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V 



BIOGRAPHY 



OF 



DEACON JAMES ALLEN, 



BT 



HIHAM KNIGHT. 






iS^^^^ 



BIOGRAPHY 



DEACOiN JAMES ALLEN, 



HIRAM KNIGHT, 



WITH 



GENEALOGICAL REGISTER 



AND 



TESTIMONIALS. 



PRINTED BY CHARLES HAMILTON, 

No. 311 Main Street. 

1889. 



CONTENTS 



Page. 

Preface, ......... v 

Topography, ........ 7 

Number of Inhabitants, ...... 9 

James Allen, ........ 9 

Taxable Persons in Oakham in 1827, .... 13 

James Allen's Military Record, . . . . 15 

As A Farmer, ........ 16 

As A School Teacher,. ...... 17 

An Incident, ........ 18 

As One of the School Committee, .... 19 

How he came to be a Merchant, .... 20 

As A Civil Engineer or Land Surveyor, . . 25 

In his Family and Home, ...... 26 

As a Trustee, ....... 29 

As A Public Official, . . . . . . .29 

In the Church and Sabbath School, . . . 31 

His Reputation, ........ 33 

Genealogical Register, ...... 38 

Deacon Allen's Picture, . . . . . .43 

Testimonials, ...... . 45 



PREFACE 



It is highly proper, as well as natural, that a special 
veneration for the place of our nativity should be cherished. 
The scenes of our childhood ; the kindly faces and cheerful 
words of those elderly people who greeted us when we 
were among the little school-children ; the very land itself, 
its roads and by-paths, its woods and fields, its rocks and 
rills, and the greens upon which we gambolled may well l)e 
among our choice memories. 

There, too, in some one or more of its sacred enclosures 
we visit and revisit in memory at least, the graves of 
parents, brothers, sisters, and perhaps of husband, wife or 
child, and looking around on either hand we read the names 
of associates and friends of our youth or riper years, mak- 
ing these places seem to us even as hallowed ground. We 
also feel and gratefully acknowledge a personal indebted- 
ness to the place of our birth and childhood. 

It is good for us to remember the virtues of parents and 
grandparents, and to realize the moulding influence which 
not only they, but other good men and women exerted 
upon us, directing us into paths of virtue and giving to us 
impulses towards right doing and noble endeavor. 

The fact that Oakham was the place of birth and boyhood 
of the writer, coupled with his personal obligations to Dea- 
con Allen, creates a desire to aid the recollections of the 
2 



VI PREFACE. 

sons and daughters of this goodly old town, who like him- 
self were brought up under the influence of such men, 
and a desire (if possible) to secure the attention of the 
younger natives of the town, or their descendants, who, 
if at all, only remember the sul)ject of this narrative as an 
old man who had passed his active life before they knew 
him, and who may therefore be inclined to feel that he was 
very little if anything to them because he was old when 
they were young, so that they have not been aware of 
much, if any, direct influence from him upon their own lives. 
But if they reflect upon the acknowledged indebtedness 
of ih^AV parents, whose lives were touched by his moulding 
hand, they may be able to see that through them even their 
own lives have been afiected by liim for good. 

In the hope that the story of his life and labors, so far as 
they are set forth in the following pages, may not only 
remind the older people how much they were indebted to 
him and his co-laborers, but also serve as an incentive to 
nobler effort and greater fidelity on the part of the young, 
this little volume is respectfully dedicated to the Town of 
Oakham, and to her children at home and abroad by the 
author, 

HIRAM KNIGHT. 

North Brookfield, 1889. 



TOPOGRAPHY. 



THE town of Oakham, in the westerly part of the County of 
Worcester, Mass., is situated about sixteen miles west of 
the county seat (Worcester), and like the towns by which it is 
surrounded, — Barre, Rutland, Paxton, Spencer, North Brookfield 
and New Braintree, — its central portion is considerably elevated. 
Its surface is somewhat diversified and uneven, abounding in 
wooded hills and generally fertile hillsides and valleys, through 
which run numerous streams of limpid waters, so that its farms 
are well watered, and upon several of its larger brooks small mills 
were erected in the early days of its English history, and some 
of these streams still furnish water power for its home industries. 
Much of its soil is naturally productive, though by no means free 
from surface stones and rocks. 

It was taken from the more ancient town of Rutland, and 
incorporated as " District of Oakham," June 17, 1762, deriving 
its corporate name, probably, from the kind of tree which pre- 
dominated in its forests when its occupancy passed from the red 
to the white man, or, possibly, as some have believed, from a 
town of the same name in England. It seems to have been laid 
out into farms of the then prevailing size (averaging about one 
hundred acres) by its earlier white occupants, and these farm 
lines have remained as nearly unchanged as such divisions of the 
land have in the surrounding territory. 

Man}' of its early white settlers came from the older and more 
easterly towns in the State, some, perhaps, from neighboring 
States and some from Scotland through the North of Ireland. 
Of the latter were the Crawfords and Bothwells, of which names 
the earlier and some of the later ancestors of the present genera- 
tion lie buried in the old church-yard, very near where the meet- 
ing-house formerly stood, or upon their own farms in the easterly 
part of the township. 



8 BIOGRAPHY OF 

As in other towns in the vicinity the church with its " Godly 
Ministry" and the school-house received early attention. Its 
first church " was imbodied in presbiterian form Aug. 28, 1767, 
and Rev. John Strickland was ordained their pastor Apr. 1, 
1768. He was dismissed by the presbytery and a vote of the 
town June 2, 1773. After Mr. Strickland's removal, the pres- 
byterian church was dissolved, and a church on the congrega- 
tional plan was imbodied June 23, 1773, and the Rev. Daniel 
Toralinson was separated to the work of the gospel ministry 
S,mong them, June 22, 1786." 

Most of the early settlers were poor or of moderate financial 
means, and so much the more dependent upon their ability to 
labor as well as to endure hardships aud privations. 

Seventy-five years ago, notwithstanding the natural asperity 
of the soil, the town contained an average number at least of 
well fenced and well cultivated farms, many of which have con- 
tinued in the hands of the same family names ; some have passed 
to newer residents, some are in better condition than they for- 
merely were, while in a. few cases the once well appointed, well 
wooded and well tilled farms have fallen a prey to the avarice of 
sons or of strangers, have been divested of their wood and tim- 
ber, the buildings gone to decay, very little now remaining to 
prove the industry, frugality and thrift of former owners. Like 
as in other farming towns the old has given place to the new, 
and though the inhabitants who have recently passed away and 
the few men and women now living in advaticed age may have 
sorrowed as they witnessed these changes, and thought of for- 
mer magnificence, they might, if permitted to look upon the 
present state of things, be forced to admit that upon the whole 
the new is as good and in some respects even better than the 
old. By the action of time and the laws of progress, old farm 
buildings, once the homes of contentment and comfort, around 
which have clustered so many sacred associations, are broken 
down or removed or forgotten ; the perhaps sterile acres upon 
which very much labor had been expended because of their 
adjacency to the home, have been abandoned to pasturage or to 
a later growth of small wood ; and also newer and better homes 
now stand where in former days comparative unthrift had been 
the rule. 



DEACON JAMES ALLEN. 9 

NUMBER OF INHABITANTS. 

According to the Colonial Census in 1705 (three years after 
its incorporation) the number of inhabitants of this town was 
only 











270 


In 1770, 








598 


In 1790, 


according- 


to U. S. 


Census, 


772 


In 1800, 




u 




801 


In 1810, 




ii 




848 


In 1820, 




l.t 




910 


In 1830, 




I i. 




1,010 


lu 1840, 




i I 




1,038 


In 1850, 




ii 




1,137 


In 1855, 


according 


to State Census, 


1,002 


In 1800, 




U. S. 




959 


In 1805, 




State 




925 


In 1870, 




U. S. 




860 


In 1875, 




State 




873 


In 1880, 




U. S. 




869 


In 1885, 




State 




749 



Like other hill towns situated away from great thorough- 
fares where few special manufacturing industries have been per- 
manently established, Oakham has had not only its gradual and 
earlier increase but its later gradual decline in the numl)er of its 
inhabitants. Not by famine nor by pestilence nor by lack of 
general healthfulness has its population been diminished, but by 
a continuous exodus of its young men and young women who 
have been attracted to larger towns, to cities and to distant 
States and countries. About the time when the rearing of 
young men and young women destined to go from their native 
soil was fairly begun, the subject of this historical narrative 
came upon the stage of action. As a town builder, a teacher 
and a character builder he had few equals and fewer superiors. 

James Allen, the only son of his parents, was born in Oak- 
ham, July 2, 1792, u|)on the farm now owned and occupied by 
Ml-. Lewis N. Haskell, a little more than a mile south-west of the 
centre of the town. Of his parents comparatively little in detail 
can now be said, as there is probably scarcely an individual now 
living who was personally actjuainted with his father, nor, per- 
haps, even with his mother, who survived her husband. The 



10 BIOGRAPHY OF 

records show that his father was a deacon of the Congregational 
Church in Oakham from the time of its organization in 1773 till 
his death, a period of forty-three years. And the records at the 
State House show that he was a member of the House in the 
Legislature of 1805, and that he was a Justice of the Peace from 
1802 till his decease. 

It is no doubt truthfully recorded of him that he was ever 
active in promoting the interests of the town and the church. 
During the prevalence of the spotted fever in 1810 he gave his 
entire time to the care of the sick, committing matters at home 
and the care of the family to his eighteen years old son. And 
this he did upon the consideration that he was getting to be an 
old man (then sixty-six years of age), and if either might chance 
to become a victim to the terrible disease, it were better that he 
should take the risk and that the life of the son should be spared 
that he might care for the family. 

There can be no doubt that James was religiously trained and 
instructed b}' his parents. His early opportunities for a school 
education were such as the common schools of his day afforded, 
and two years at the Leicester Academy, supplemented by his 
own earnest and persistent endeavors to gain knowledge by 
personal effort and study. In this he was aided by General 
Crawford. 

After he was twelve years old his father gave him his choice 
between a college education and the ownership of the farm. He 
chose the former and in due time entered Leicester Academy to 
fit for college. At two different times his health failed him and 
he was compelled to abandon his choice. In his second year at 
Leicester he was a part of the time in the family of Mrs. Wash- 
burn, whose son Emory (afterwards governor of Massachusetts) 
was then seven years old. An older brother went with James 
to call upon some young ladies. He thus introduced him, 
" This is James Allen from Oakham." It was a cruel joke, for 
Oakham was not usually spoken of with much respect. " Out 
of the world into Oakham " had become a proverb. If in later 
years the town is spoken of with honor to itself, the change is in 
large measure due to the life and labors of this then tall and 
comely youth James Allen. He learned civil engineering or 
land survej'ing, which became one of his prominent occupations 
in after life. 



bEACON JAMES ALLEN. ll 

From fifty to one hundred j^ears ago were the tunes of laj'ge 
families of children, and as the farms and lands became nearly 
all occupied, and as water-power or other facilities favorable to 
its becoming a manufacturing town did not exist, whereby em- 
ployment might have been furnished for its sons and daughters 
as they grew to man's estate, there was a constantly accumulat- 
ing surplus population to be scattered abroad into other and 
growing communities within the State, or to make new iiomes 
for themselves and their children in other States or countries. 
The time was when by far the most important export of this 
goodly old town was young men and young women, and the 
same to a more limited extent is tx*ue even now. 

And it is not aside from the purpose of this sketch to empha- 
size the importance which attaches itself to the home education 
and training of those outgoing as well as the remaining children 
of the town. There is a fitness of things, and there are laws of 
adaptation of means to ends and of ends to means which have 
their origin outside of or beyond the wisdom of man. If the 
towering cedar is needed for the building of the temple it is 
found upon Lebanon's mountain, where there is ample soil 
among the rocks to contain its roots and to nourish the tree, 
whose fibre is intensified and rendered more firm by its exposure 
to the mighty winds. If the sturdy oak is needed wherewith to 
lay the keel or to build the hull of the massive ship of commerce, 
it is neither found nor looked for in lowland thicket, but upon 
sparsely wooded hills where it has withstood the blasts of many 
winters and the trying winds of spring and autumn, causing 
it to root itself deep and wide and securing to itself integrity of 
fibre, that it may be the better fitted for the purpose it is destined 
to serve. So in the history of the human family, lofty intellects 
and sterling characters are needed. The exigencies of a State 
or nation may call for able and sterling men who are by the very 
necessity of the case to be found somewhere among the masses 
of the people, and not infrequently in the sparsely settled towns 
where they might have remained in comparative obscurity had 
not some exigency called them forth. Among the masses and 
even in small and obscure communities are often found military 
organizers and leaders, statesmen, teachers of the various insti- 
tutions of learning and religion, philosophers, philanthropists, 



12 BIOGRAPHY OF 

reformers. Nor do these do their work single handed or alone. 
What would be a general without an army drawn from among 
the masses ; a statesman without appreciative constituents ; a 
teacher without pupils ; a preacher without attentive hearers ; a 
philosopher, philanthropist or reformer without a sensitive and 
intelligent public mind to which tliey may appeal, or how can a 
man be distinguished as a town builder, and educator or character 
builder if he find no plastic material to work upon ? The work- 
man and his material must always coexist. The power to 
create from nothing resides only in the Divine Creator. Great 
men and good men made their appearance in this world before 
the fulness of time for the coming of the God-man ; each from 
Noah down to the great but humble Nazarine, doing his appro- 
priate work and leaving the world the better for his life. The 
like has been true since the Christian era, and doubtless will be 
true to the end of time. 

When in due course of events our own nation sprung into life, 
its Washington and his faithful copatriots came forth from among 
the people. Later, the presidency had its Adams, its Jefferson, 
its Madison, its Monroe, its second Adams, and still later, its 
Lincoln, its Grant, its Garfield, and others of honorable mention. 
In the Civil War of 1861-65 the nation had its Grant, its 
Sherman, its Meade, its Sheridan, and other efficient military 
leaders too numerous to be mentioned. Thus has it ever been 
in the domain of religion, of learning, of science and art. Each 
honored name in his own time and work seems to have fitted 
into the divine plan of conducting the world's affairs, and in His 
own time and way of elevating the human race from a gulf of 
ignorance and sin to a mountain of knowledge and holiness. 

Evil men have also arisen in all the ages whose energies and 
influence have been exerted for the destruction of that which 
good men have builded ; and it is beyond human knowledge or 
wisdom to decide that their lives and labors have not also been 
comprehended in the divine plan. We may not be able so plainly 
to see the need of evil doers, but may safely conclude that to 
defeat or even to hinder the Great Ruler of the universe is utterly 
beyond their power. 

Such reflections may lead us to infer that everything happens 
in its proper time and that each person lives at the proper time, 



DEACON JAMES ALLEN. 



13 



every one in his own day mid generation. From considerations 
similar in kind with the foregoing may we not safely conclude 
that the humble, but no less honorable and useful, subject of this 
sketch lived and labored ivhen and lohere and how he could do 
the greatest amount of good? 

To give an accurate list of the names of the heads of the 
growing families at any given date during the active life of 
Deacon Allen, in the education of whose children he acted a 
very important part, may now be impossible, but the insertion 
of the names to be found upon a tax list of 1827 may call to 
mind the property-holders and active citizens of that day, most 
of whom would be included as heads of families were such a list 
to be attempted. 

TAXABLE PERSONS IN OAKHAM IN 1827. 



Dr. Charles Adams. 
Palmer Adams. 
Cheney R. Adams. 
Washington Allen. 
Lysander Allen. 
Nehemiah Allen. 
James Allen. 

I James Allen for 

( estate of Isaac Stone, Jr. 
Perley Ayres. 
John Ayres. 

Jonas Bellows. 

Horace Bellows. 

Anna Bell. 

Nancy Berry. 

Bethiah Black. 

Lemuel Blake. 

Reuben Bothvvell. 

Cheney Bothwell. 

Rebeckah Bothwell. 

John Boyd, 2d. 

John Briant. 
( John Briant for 
I Daniel Boyden heirs. 

James G. Briant. 

Amos Bridges. 

Jonns Brimhall. 

John Bi'oad. 



Joel Bullard. 
Adin Bullard (heirs of). 
Moses Bullard. 
.William Bullard. 
Josiah Burbank. 
Patty Burbank. 
John Burt. 
Eli Burt. 

Jonas Clapp. 
Joseph Clapp. 
Silas Clapp. 
Edward Clark. 
Lot Conant. 
James Conant, Jr. 
Charles Conant. 
Harvey Conant. 
John Conant. 
Nancy Conant. 
Isaac P. Conant. 
Alexander Crawford. 
Alexander Crawford, 2d. 
Samuel Crawford. 
Samuel Crawford, Jr. 
William Crawford. 
William Crawford, Jr. 
Rufus Crawford. 
Lauriston F. CraAvford. 
John Crawford. 



14 



BIOGRAPHY OF 



Galen A. Crawford. 

Galen Daniou. 
Adin Davis. 
Polly Davis. 
Zebnlon Dean. 
Elijah Dean. 
Elijah Dean, Jr. 
Blake Dean. 
James Dean. 
John Dean. 
Josiah R. Dean. 
Samnel Denny. 
Cyrus Dunbar. 
Joseph Dwelley. 

Elmer Earle. 

Ephraim Fairbank. 

James C. Fairbank. 

Ephraim W. Fairbank. 

John B. Fairbank. 

Harvey Fales. 

George Fay. 

J George Fay for 

[ Richard K. Shattuck. 

Rice Fay. 

Skelton Felton. 

Peter Fitts. 

Jesse Fitts. 

Elisha Fitts. 

Daniel Flint. 

Perez Fobes. 

Abigail Fobes. 

Martin Forbes. 

Benjamin Forbes. 

Spencer Foster. 

James R. Foster. 

Susannah Freeman. 

John French. 

Bathsheba French. 

Catherine French. 

Asa French, Jr. 

Freeman French. 

Leonard Fuller. 

William Gault. 
David Goodale. 



Eunice Goodale. 
Samuel A. Goodale. 
Rufus Gould. 
Elijah Green. 
Charles B. Green. 

David Hager. 
Isaac Hager. 
Percival Hall. 
Percival Hall, Jr. 
John Hale. 
Zenas H. P. Hale. 
John Hammond. 
Levi Harrington. 
Levi Harrington, Jr. 
Austin Harrington. 
Warren Harrington. 
Simeon Haskell. 
Loring Haskell. 
Thomas Haskell. 
Nelson Haskell. 
Daniel Haskell. 
Joseph Hastings. 
Sanford Hatch. 
Samuel Henry. 
Martin Howard. 
Nathan Horr. 

Joel Jones. 
Isaac H. Jones. 

Richard Kelly (heirs of) 
Charles Keith. 
William E. Keep. 
Silas Knight, Jr. 

Ezra Leonard. 
Josiah L. Leonard. 
Stephen Lincoln. 
Stephen Lincoln, Jr. 
Abner Lincoln. 
Lucius A. Loring. 

John Macomber. 
Elias Marsh. 
Elias Marsh, Jr. 
Richard K. Marsh. 
Amasa Maynard. 



DEACON JAMES ALLEN. 



15 



Samuel Maynard. 
Ezra Mayuard. 
Frauds Mayuard. 
Johu McCollpugh. 
Stepheu Moou. 
"William Moon. ;r 
Eliakim Morse. 
Abraham Mullet. 
Solouion Muuroe. 

Luther Noyes. 
Luther Noyes, Jr. 
Denuy S. Noyes. 
Timothy Nye. 
Crocker Nye. 
Salmou S. Nye. 

Nehemiah Packard. 
Perley Packard. 
Jouathau Packard. 
Solomou Parmeuter. 
Elias Partridge. 
William Partridge. 
Edward Partridge. 
Thaddeus Partridge. 
Dauiel G. Piper. 
Elihu Poud. 
Frederick A. Presho. 
William Presho. 

Daniel Rawson. 
Benjamin Reed. 
Silas Reed. 
Silas Reed, Jr. 
Lewis H. Reed. 
Joseph Rider. 
Jepthath Ripley. 
Zeuas Ripley. 
Russell Ripley. 



Samuel Rockwood. 

William Robinson. 

Peter Robinson. 
Peter Robinson for 
Isaac Stone heirs. 

John Robinson, 2d. 

Abraham Robinson. 



I 



emuel Saunders. 
Luther Spear. 
Andrew Spooner. 
Eleazer Spooner. 
Caleb Spooner. 
Calvin Stevens. 
Otis Stone. 
Charles Stone. 
Justus Stone. 
Betsey Stone. 
Daniel Swan. 



David T. Tenny. 
Nathan Thayer. 
William Thompson. 
Fabien Tomlinson. 
Samuel Tucker. 
Luke Tower. 

William Ware. 
James B. Ware. 
Ira Warren. 
Lewis Wetherby. 
Martin Weeks. 
J. Chandler Weeks. 
Hasky Wight. 
Dorothy Woodis. 
Polly Woodis. 
Nathan Woodis. 
Mariot Woodis. 
Oliver Woodis. 



Note. — Thomas Wetherell, who lived between Martin Weeks 
and Zenas Ripley, removed to Ware in 1827, just before this 
assessment list was made. 



JAMES ALLEN'S MILITARY RECORD. 

He belonged to Captain (afterwards General) William Craw- 
ford's Gremidiers. Appointed Sergeant, April 2.'>, 1811 ; Ensign, 



16 BIOGRAPHY OF 

May 11, 1814; Lieutenant, January 27, 1815; commissioned 
Captain by Governor Caleb Strong May 17, 1817. This com- 
pany was ordered to assemble at Knight Whitmore's Tavern in 
Oakham on Sunday, September 11, 1814, at 5 o'clock A. M., to 
march at once to Boston to repel the attack of the British, then 
threatened. In compliance with the order they then and there 
assembled, and after prayer (very long and solemn) by Rev. 
Daniel Tomlinson, and affectionate and tearful good-byes from 
loving parents and near friends, they took up their line of march ; 
accomplishing the same in two days, arriving at Boston lame 
and stiff from their long and tedious marching, but soon there- 
after through the thorough training of Captain Crawford they 
attracted the special attention of great numbers because of their 
proficiency in marching, their military bearing and training. 
They were known as the " TaU Company ," also as the '■'•Country 
Haw Bucks." After about two months spent in and near Boston 
they returned home, having seen the enemy who did not dare to 
attack a city so well prepared to receive them. In the latter 
pait of his life he received for this service two bounty land 
warrants, and after his death his widow received a pension. 

Although he greatly enjoyed military life and service, yet for 
many reasons he thought best to resign his commission as Cap- 
tain, which he did March 16, 1820. He was strongly urged to 
continue his military career, being assured of further promotion, 
but he did not think best to do so. 

The older inhabitants will remember the Oakham and New 
Braintree Grenadiers. They were generally six-footers, and 
added to their very uniform height was the tall and imposing 
regulation cap or head-gear, heavily trimmed from behind and 
over the top with bear skin with its lustrous and flowing hair, 
also the tall, pointed and highly ornamented tin frontal, back of 
which was inserted a tall, black, red-tipped plume. 

AS A FARMER. 

In his youth he did not leave the old homestead, but came into 
its ownership either before or soon after the death of his father 
in 1816, when he assumed the care of his mother, who survived 
her husband about thirteen years. This was one of the well 
walled and well tilled farms and was kept in good condition so 
long as he continued its occupancy. He was a good farmer and 



DEACON JAMES ALLEN. 17 

a diligent worker upon the land, and became deeply interested 
and efficient (especially in his later life) in the cultivation of 
fruit-trees and the smaller fruits. As his public duties called 
him away more and more as the years went by he employed 
more farm laborers, who boarded in his family. No doubt the 
pressure of other business was one of the reasons which induced 
him to give up the farm in 1835. 

AS A SCHOOL TEACHER. 

This work he began when he was eighteen years old. His 
first school was upon the "East Hill" in 1810, and his last 
school was in the same place in 1852. His labors in this line 
for forty-two years were confined to his own town, extending to 
all parts of the town, as it is prol)able that he may have taught 
in each school district at some time in his life, or at any rate 
that man}' of the scholars living in the out districts attended his 
select schools in the centre. He early became a model teacher, 
and fortunate was the school which secured his services, and 
liap))y were its pupils, who as a rule cheerfully co-operated with 
him as their teacher. As compensation he received about the 
same amount that was usually paid in the respective schools ; 
the minimum wages being about one dollar per day in the out- 
lying districts. Wherever there was a vacancy he was ready to 
fill it, even if it involved a foot journey of two miles each day 
and the consciousness when he reached his home at night that 
he had earned but a single dollar. In the central or larger 
schools in which he was usually employed he no doubt received 
more adequate compensation, but his work was as thoroughly 
and conscientiously done in the one case as in the other. 

Though on the most intimate and familiar terms with all his 
pupils he alwaj's maintained strict discipline and secured good 
order and perfect obedience, not by resorting to corporal pun- 
ishment for misdemeanors, which especially in the later years of 
his teaching he seldom found occasion to do, but by the force of 
his oion character. He was often heard to say that no person 
was properly qualified to govern a school until he had learned to 
control himself. Being naturally (|uick-tempered and sensitive 
as to the dignity of his position as a teacher, his own experiences 
as well as observation may have confirmed him in such a conclusion. 



18 BIOGRAPHY OF 

He could usually keep his scholars from mischief or play by 
securing their interest in their proper work in which he was ever 
ready to assist and encourage them. Thoroughness in the 
studies, decorum in behavior, good order in school and conse- 
quent happiness were the maxims of his school-room. He 
opened and closed the school with brief religious exercises. 

As the time arrived when Oakham, as well as its neighbors, 
felt the need of something more than the ordinary terms of dis- 
trict schools (which want gave rise to the establishment of high 
schools) Deacon Allen frequently taught fall terms of select or 
tuition schools in the centre of the town. 

In the autumn of 1834 (the only time when he was under his 
instruction) the writer attended one of these schools in which 
there were about thirty of the more advanced scholars of the 
town, no less than five or six of whom went out from thence to 
become teachers themselves. Among this number was Levi 
Adams, who spent most of his time thereafter in teaching, until 
his early death in 1860, at the age of forty-three years. 

AN INCIDENT. 

About the year 1840, in the north-west district, an eccentric 
elderly man chanced to be appointed Prudential Committee (one 
of whose duties was the hiring of teachers). This man very 
seldom if ever attended church, or manifested any reverence for 
religion or much respect for religious people. Previously to and 
about this time opposition to religious teaching or prayer in 
school had found some sympathizers in this district, and, so far 
as is remembered, it is believed that the last teacher before this 
date whose custom had been to open and close with prayer was 
Colonel John Robinson, who taught school there several years 
before. This new committee man, regarding his own appoint- 
ment somewhat in the light of a joke and thinking, no doubt, 
that he must do something odd in order to pay off his neighbors, 
hastened at once to Deacon Allen and hired him to teach the 
next winter term of school. As he met the boys he told them 
what he had done and warned them against throwing paper balls 
and doing certain other things in prayer time to annoy the 
teacher. The boys regarding his caution rather as a suggestion 
as to what might be done, prepared themselves for the occasion. 



DEACON JAMES ALLEN. 19 

The (lay and hour of the opening came, and after a brief and 
[)leasaut introduction the teacher announced that the school 
would be opened with praj^er, and to their great surprise these 
boys found that he could praj^ without closing his eyes or fixmg 
them upon any particular object in the room. Being discomfited 
in their plans they thought best gracefully to submit to the 
inevitable, and in view of the pleasant and judicious manner in 
which the religious exercises were conducted, they soon began 
to realize their propriety, and with the other scholars they came 
to approve and to enjoy them. 

AS ONE OF THE SCHOOL COMMITTEE. 

In the early days of the writer as a pupil in the north-west 
district the School Committee consisted of Rev. Daniel Tomlin- 
son, General William Crawford and Deacon James Allen. At 
the close of each term all three came together. Single visits 
were made at other times but oftener by Deacon Allen than by 
the others. On examiiiation days the first two took the chairs 
assigned to them and remained in a dignified position while the 
school exercises were gone through with, but the Deacon moved 
noiselessly about all over the room, stopping to speak quietly 
with the scholars in their seats, commending them for good 
behavior and good work done, putting his hands upon the heads 
of the little ones and giving them pleasant words of approbation 
and encouragement. When it came to the speech-making Fr. 
Tomliuson opened very much in the solemn style of his pulpit 
ministrations, addressing the school no doubt in words of 
wisdom, but he made use of language which only a few of the 
scholars could understand. After him the majestic and com- 
manding figure of General Crawford, incased in a blue coat with 
its bright yellow buttons, arose from his seat and poured forth a 
stream of eloquence which astonished his youthful hearers, but 
most of his classical language was beyond their comprehension, 
and if it did not minister to their present edification and enlight- 
enment it caused the question to arise in many minds. Shall we 
ever know as much as General Crawford does? Then came 
Deacon Allen's turn to si)eak. He began down among the little 
ones and found much to commend in their behavior and recita- 
tions. Nothing which was commendable or praiseworthy escaped 



20 BIOGRAPHY OF 

his notice, and if anything had appeared which called for criti- 
cism or rebuke he did not indulge in scolding to teacher or 
scholars, but in his inimitable way showed where and how 
improvement could be made. It is unnecessary to say that his 
was the speech of the occasion every time. 

HOW HE CAME TO BE A MERCHANT. 

In order to set forth all the accompanying circumstances and 
conditions bearing upon this subject some digressions seem to be 
necessary. Prior to 1834 Oakham had had its country store in 
the centre for an unknown number of years. As far back as 
the writer can remember it was kept by George Fay, subsequently 
by different parties, prominent among whom were E. W. and 
S. H. Skerry, and at this date it was kept by Potter and Rice, 
Mr. Potter being the manager. Previously to his day efforts 
had been made to establish certain kinds of manufactures, Mr. 
Ephraim Fairbank was the village blacksmith and reared a 
family of sons and daughters. Some of his sons first began the 
manufacture of window springs in the old shop on the corner 
south-west of the meeting-house. The work was done by hand 
processes aided by dies into which the steel for each separate 
spring was hammered. The push or thumb-piece brought into 
use in raising or lowering the window sash to the desired notch 
was made from sheet copper plated on one side with silver, out 
of which convex circles were punched, equivalent in size and 
shape to the largest round head upon the brass nail used in 
upholstery, and these caps were soldered to the protruding- 
spindle of the spring. Agents were sent into various parts of 
the country to sell and set these then only known window springs. 
One among these agents was the late Perley Ayres, who operated 
in the middle and western parts of the State of New York. 
This manufacture for several years was understood as yielding a 
good return to the proprietors. 

A little later on, some of these Fairbank brothers established 
what was then considered as quite a respectable straw bonnet 
factory, located upon or near the site of the dwelling-house of 
Deacon James Packard. In this factory several men and a 
much larger number of young ladies found employment for some 
time. The wagon and carriage business was also carried on to 



DEACON JAMES ALLEN. 21 

a considtM-able extent by Hervey and Humi)hrey, and by E. D. 
and E. Cheney. These efforts to establish mannfactures n[)ou 
the Oakham hill were contemporaneous with the establishment 
or early enlargement of the boot and shoe business in the Brook- 
fields and other towns in the vicinity. But they did not long 
continue. These window-springs were superseded and the straw 
business was carried elsewhere, and the operatives who learned 
the latter in Oakham were drawn to other places for work ; and 
thus, instead of keeping the young people at home as it did for 
a time, and as no doubt was by its projectors intended to do, it 
became another means of drawing them away. If these branches 
while they lasted did not tend much to increase the population, 
they acted as a check upon emigration and very much increased 
the trade at the store, and about this time it came into the 
hands of Potter and Rice. Mr. Potter was young and intensely 
active, and desirous of increasing the business at least up to the 
demands of the times. 

The leading citizens, among whom was the minister and some 
of the most })rominent members of the church, fully appreciating 
the activity and enterprise of their j'oung merchant, but not 
altogether approving his methods nor the direction things had 
taken in the store and tavern, then connected and carried on 
under the same management, and as a desire or at least a 
willingness on the part of Mr. Rice to sell out his interest became 
known, they conceived the idea of placing Deacon Allen in a 
more central position, where his ability as an accountant or 
book-keeper would find ample scope, as well as bring him within 
easier reach of those who needed his services as magistrate or in 
other ways. And another and the more important consideration 
with them was that with his well known conservatism and care- 
fulness, his sterling integrity and Christian character, united with 
the business enthusiasm and supposed ability of Mr. Potter, he 
might serve as a counterpoise, and a safer and better state of 
things morally as well as in the line of business might thereby 
be secured. 

These were the days of almost unlimited credit in the purchase 

and sale of store goods and farm products. The merchant 

having established his standing in city and country, could buy 

ad libitum, and could if so disposed increase his sales to almost 

3 



22 BIOGRAPHY OF 

au uuliniited extent so long as no equivalent was required except 
charges upon his books. If tliose who had little or no pecuniary 
resources did not dress well and fare sumptuously every day, it 
must have been because of their inherent objection to purchasing 
what they knew they could not pay for. Whether Mr. Rice, who 
was a farmer, saw the drift towards bankruptcy in the manner 
in which the business in Oakham as well as in otlier towns 
(North Brookfield by no means excepted) is not known, but for 
reasons satisfactory to himself he proposed to sell out. At the 
time the books of the firm showed some forty or fifty thousand 
dollars of accounts receivable ( ?) and a lesser but large amount of 
indebtedness. Mr. Rice proposed to transfer his entire Interest 
and responsibility to the new firm of Potter and Allen. The 
stock of goods, fixtures and accounts were to be appraised by 
two disinterested men. In the appraisal of the accounts due the 
old firm large deductions were made. Those which were con- 
sidered ivortJiless were thrown out, and upon such as were 
denominated doubtful various discounts were made, but those 
which were called good went into the invoice at their full amount. 
From the total the (then known) payables being deducted, the 
balance was found against the new firm. Deacon Allen sold his 
farm and stock and put in all the proceeds, and took his place 
at the desk as the accountant. But he soon found by the 
coming in of claims for produce for which no credit had been 
given on the books on the one hand, and the impossibility of 
making collections to anything like the amount indicated by the 
invoice on the other hand, that he had bought a stranded ship 
wliich must soon go to pieces by the action of the waves. The 
final crash did not come till just after a new store building had 
been completed and occupied in the fall of 1836. Within a few 
months after his taking possession Deacon Allen told the writer 
that he was financially ruined and could do nothing but await 
inevitable failure, as the state of the business was entirely beyond 
his control. He of course was sorry to lose the earnings and 
savings of his previous lifetime, but what saddened him most 
was that he must occupy the position of a bankrupt. While under 
this strain of anxiety and suspense he was so far as possible the 
same cheerful Christian man in his family, in the church and 
Sunday School and in the town as before ; endeavoring all the 



DEACON JAMES ALLEN. 23 

wliile to fortify himself and prepare his family for ai)i)roaching 
cliauges. His Christian duty seemed to him to be submission to 
what he regarded as a trying dispensation of Divine Providence. 
He was never known to cast any severe reflections upon those 
by whom consciously or unconsciously he had been victimized. 
He stayed by till the spring of 1837 (about six months after the 
failure) and did what he could to settle an uusettleable bankrupt 
estate, and than again betook himself to farming on a very 
limited scale, beginning with a single acre and adding thei'eto 
from time to time as he was able to purchase by his earnings 
as land survej^or and other employments, to which a sympathiz- 
ing and friendly public called him ; and thus l)y unceasing 
industry, economy and self denial on his part and that of his 
family, he afterwards became the owner of a comfortable home, 
proving himself to be the same cheerful and godly man in his 
worn and faded garments, and his old-time long woollen frock, 
that he had been in more aftluent circumstances. 

Those farmers who were heavy losers by the failure never 
felt like reproaching him, as they did not see that he was at all 
to be blamed, but they rather regarded him with pity and sorrow, 
as having been the greatest sufferer. 

It may appear to the reader very strange that Deacon Allen and 
his advisers should have been so deceived that he should become 
a party to such a transaction as the purchase of an interest in a 
business which was then upon thQ border of ruin. The worst 
abuses of the credit system (concerning which very little could 
ever be said favorably), had for years been gradually creeping 
into the business of the community, so that no man at that time 
even thought of trying to do any kind of business to any con- 
siderable extent upon any other basis. The credit folly was 
neither local nor exceptional, but universal throughout the entire 
country, and business men generally seemed to be totally obliv- 
ious of a coming crisis, which, if the laws of trade mean any- 
thing, was sure to follow ; the only question being that of time. 
The culmination was the great crash all over the country of 
1837. In this particular case no living man, not even the pro- 
prietors themselves, had any reasonabh; knowledge or any just 
conception of the true condition of their business at the time that 
the firm name was changed to Potter and Allen. 



24 BIOGRAPHY OF 

Deacon Allen's life-long motto for himself, as well as for 
others, had been to "follow the leadings of Providence," and 
there can be no doubt that when he left the old farm and went 
into the store he verily believed that he was so doing, nor that 
the step was taken after prayerful consideration. And who 
shall presume to decide that he was mistaken ? That he needed 
such an experience for his own good or discipline would be far 
from the thought of any one who knew the man. That question 
must be classed with things unknowable. One thing at least 
seems to be apparent ; if he had never expevienced a trial like 
this, neither he nor the world could ever have known how well 
he could bear such a test of his Christian character. Nobody 
can know what his after life would have been had he never been 
called to pass through this trial ; how much it ministered to his 
Christian humility ; his carefulness ; his clearing himself from 
worldly entanglements ; his more vehement desire to give him- 
self to Christian service, rendering \i possible that he thereafter 
might have lived less for time and more for eternity, and been a 
better man when he came to the close of life than he otherwise 
might have been. When we consider how slight a change from 
a man's plans or expectations may hinder his embarkation upon 
a doomed steamer or carry him into a railroad disaster, or change 
the whole current of his after life for better or worse, we see the 
utter folly of human speculations upon the orderings of Divine 
Providence. This happened to him when he was about five 
years past the middle of his earthly life, while he was still 
physically and mentally strong. Such reverses of fortune to 
human vision appear at any time of life to be deplorable, and 
the more so when they occur to one later in life, after his ability 
to labor for the restoration of lost fortune has become small and 
still growing less ; that the fruits of many years of toil, upon 
which one in life's decline must needs begin to rely for suste- 
nance, should be ruthlessly swept away by fire or flood or other, 
cause, and ViCiw^l poverty ensue ; the case seems even more dark 
and discouraging. But the very fact itself so enlists the sympa- 
thy of relatives and friends towards one who has led an industri- 
ous and useful life, that neither he nor his can be left to suffer 
actual want in a Christian or in an appreciative community ; and 
thus what seems only like loss may even become moral or 
spiritual gain to one who is properly exercised thereby. 



DEACON JAMES ALLEN. 25 

Though at the time of bis decease Deacon Allen might liave 
been poorer in worldly estate, he may for aught we know have been 
richer in faith and heir to a richer inheritance in the life to come. 
This single event is dwelt upon so much^t length because of 
its apparent importance and magnitude, because of the sudden 
transition of the whole family from a condition of comparative 
aflluence to one of poverty at a time not much preceding the 
failing health, the severe sickness and the resultant death of 
Mrs. Allen, and because of the great change it (seemingly) 
must have made in his future and that of his family. 

AS A CIVIL ENGINEER OR LAND SURVEYOR. 

These employments tended to make him a good pedestrian. 
Being of full manly stature (six feet in height) , active in every 
limb and muscle, and having frequent calls to leave his field or 
other home work and shoulder his instruments and do jobs of 
surveying in the town or in neighboring towns, he seldom 
travelled to such engagements by team, which in many cases 
would have been a hindrance rather than a help, and thus he 
became inured to foot travel. If his job was five or even ten 
miles away the same rule was generally observed. Beiug a 
rapid walker, and knowing full well that the shortest way 
between two points was a straight line, he discarded circuitous 
and crooked roads and found his way across fields and pastures, 
along hillsides or the borders of swamps ; and thus he could 
many times save time as well as expense by going on foot. He 
was never late in meeting his appointments because he started 
off in season, and he started in due time, because by early rising 
he had time to prepare. If he went forth for a day's work and 
by diligence accomplished his task aud reached home before 
night, he adapted his dress and did an hour's needed work in 
the garden or elsewhere before night-fall, had just time for 
supper and a brief visit with his wife and children, and was then 
ready to meet an evening appointment from which he promptly 
returned. Such was his command and economy of time that he 
never did anything in undue haste, nor wasted a moment in 
delay after his work was done. He always had just time enough 
for every duty and his work was so systematized that each 
engagement received due and timely attention. He never post- 
poned till to-morrow that which could be done to-day. 



26 BIOGRAPHY OF 

His records and accounts were so kept that had he been 
stricken down at any moment his work could readily have been 
taken up where he left off. His plans and doings were all 
apparent to the persons especially interested in them. About 
the time when he was to leave the mercantile wreck in 1837 
there came to him from an entire stranger of New York city a 
proposition to employ him for several months as surveyor of a 
large tract of wild land in the State of Maine, for which service 
he was offered such compensation as he might himself see fit to 
demand. His reply brought a visit from this stranger which 
resulted in an engagement of about three months in the Maine 
forest, for which his sound bodily health and ready adaptation 
to a life in the woods especially fitted him, and at the same time 
afforded him an opportunity to replenish his depleted personal 
treasury, as well as a removal for a time from his unpleasant 
surroundings at home. He never knew but little of the plans or 
successes of this "Speculator in Eastern Lauds," whose name 
was Niels Brock Gram. The surveyor used to tell of his good 
appetite and pleasant experiences as well as his arduous labors 
in the Maine woods. When the first Sabbath morning dawned 
upon him and his men, they remarked to him that they supposed 
they were to work that day, but he said wo, as he was not 
accustomed to work upon the Sabbath day. He had with him 
his Bible and other suitable reading, and the day was filled up 
by their perusal and appropriate religious conversation witli his 
helpers, who never afterwards mentioned working upon the 
Sabbath. 

After this, calls in the line of surveying or engineering 
became more frequent and remunerative than ever before. In 
1857 he was elected as one of the Commissioners for Worcester 
County and was the engineer of the Board during his service of 
three years, and was beloved as well as respected by his asso- 
ciates in that office. 

IN HIS FAMILY AND HOME. 

The earlier home is more especially referred to because better 
known to the writter. It was characterized by industry, frugali- 
ty, harmony and happiness. In the management of the children 
there was perfect concord between the parents. The children 
were obedient and happy. There was absolute government in 



DteACON James alLen. 2? 

the home circle aud never a doubt as to where authority resided. 
Corporal punishment for transgression was unnecessary. If the 
chikl did that which was right it was sure to receive the approval 
of parents ; if for any reason it had failed in any particular, 
gentle words of reproof or a look of disapproval was all that 
was needed ; there was no place for pains or penalties in the 
family system. His ideas of family government are well 
expressed by a celebrated P^nglish writer : "In order to estab- 
lish complete authority and secure obedience, the following rule 
must be invariably acted upon, — that no command^ either by 
word., look or gesture^ should be given which is not intended to he 
enforced and obeyed. It is the rock on which most parents split 
in infantile education, that while they are almost incessantly 
giving commands to their children, they are not careful to see 
that they are punctually obeyed, and seem to consider occasional 
violations of their injunctions as a very trivial fault, or as a 
matter of course. There is no practice more common than this, 
and none more ruinous to the authority of parents, and to the 
best interests of their offspring. When a child is accustomed 
by 'frequent repetitions to counteract the will of his parents, a 
habit of insubordination is gradually induced, which sometimes 
grows to such a height that neither entreaties nor threats, nor 
corporal punishment are sufhcient to counteract its tendencies ; 
and a sure foundation is laid for many future perplexities and 
sorrows. The rule, therefere, should be absolute, — that every 
paternal command be reasonable, that a compliance with it pro- 
duce no unnecessary pain or trouble to the child ; that it be 
expressed in words of kindness and affection; that it ought never 
to be delivered in a spirit of passion or resentment. Reproof or 
correction given in a rage, and with words of fur}', is always 
considered as the effect of weakness and a want of self command, 
and uniformly frustrates the purpose it was intended to sub- 
serve." 

While living on the farm he was frequently away from home 
during some part of the day. About the time of his expected 
return the little children were watching, and when they descried 
his well known figure in the distance they began the race to meet 
him. The one who could travel fastest would first gain his 
hand, and so on till the smallest who had scarcely toddled across 



28 BIOGRAPHY OF 

the broad door-yard would be the last to be gathered iu. He 
had a kindly greeting for each and fingers enough for all to take 
hold upon. They were asked if they had been happy to-day and 
the like, and would all assist in leading him into the house. 

In 1836, when Emily was barely able to creep, the writer 
chanced to call upon Deacon Allen in the store, and was invited 
to go to the house for supper before his return to his place of 
labor in Smithville, Barre. Mrs. Allen put the baby down upon 
the floor that she might prepare the meal, but the child not 
appreciating the necessity of its temporary separation from its 
mother, followed her into the pantry pleading to be restored to 
her arms, whereupon she asked the father if he would take charge 
of her while she could set the table. He took her up, but that 
was not what the child just then wanted ; her spunk arose and 
she became too straight and rigid to accommodate herself to the 
paternal lap, and attempted to slide down upon the floor. With 
his hands placed firmly upon each side her arms were pinioned 
and he raised her up and brought her into a sitting posture upon 
his right knee, and closing in his left knee, she found herself 
bound hand and foot, and heard a gentle but firm voice saying, 
^^Emma, sit still, sit still." She struggled for a moment, but in 
vain, and soon broke down and fell back upon her father's 
breast sobbing and grieving as if her little heart was broken. 
But it was not the heart but the toill which had given way. 
She soon became quiet and the tea was served as if nothing had 
happened. After a while the father remarked to the visitor 
that the first lesson children need to learn is submission, and they 
cannot learn it too young ; that this child had never resisted his 
will before, and that she would never do it again ; that the work 
was done and the question of authority in the child's mind was 
settled forever. At another time at the table an older daughter 
was relating what had just taken place iu the singing-school. 
She told what a certain other young lady said or did, and what 
followed from the teacher, closing with the remark that it was 
generally understood by the other scholars that she was virtually 
turned out of school. After hearing her through her father said, 
"I do not quite like that expression." The daughter blushed, 
and modified her opinion somewhat, putting a more charitable 
construction upon the pupil's behavior and divesting her story 



DEACON JAMES ALLEN. 29 

of some of its severity ; " that's better," was all that was needed 
to restore harmony of opinions upon that subject. That there 
was family government in the household, no one who chanced to 
be there could doubt, nor that it was a government of law, and 
that that law was the law of love. 

AS A TRUSTEE. 

Having been a pupil at the Leicester Academy, and well and 
favorably known there, he was in August, 1834, chosen one of 
its Trustees, which office he held till 1852, and much enjoyed his 
annual attendance upon the examinations and the renewal of 
acquaintances. It is related of him that while he was in oflice 
tlie Trnstees were called together in relation to an important 
case of discipline. In after conversation the Principal asked 
Inm what he would do in certain supposed cases which called for 
discipline. His brief but comprehensive reply was, " If I had a 
case of discipline on my hands I should never adjourn it." 

AS A PUBLIC OFFICIAL. 

For any public office he was never a self-appointed candidate. 
When chosen to office in town, county or State it was because a 
majority of his constituents preferred him to any other candidate. 
Records show that he was Moderator of the annual town meeting 
at four different times ; Fence Viewer three years ; Highway Sur- 
veyor four years ; Selectman six years ; Collector and Constable 
one 3'ear ; Assessor nine years ; Overseer of Poor one year ; 
School Committee thirty-tAvo years ; Town Clerk eighteen years. 
As recording officer his records bear ample testimony to his effi- 
ciency, by the elegance of his penmanship and the concise and 
careful manner in which his work was done. He was County 
Commissioner for three years ; a member of the House of Rep- 
resentatives in 1833, 1834, 1838 and 1858, four years ; of the 
State Senate in 1839, 1841 and 1842, three years. 

He was first commissioned a Justice of the Peace January 12, 
1820, and held the office till his decease. He gave considerable 
attention to the study of law. Though never admitted to the 
liar he was legal authority for his town and acted as its magis- 
trate for many years. 



30 BIOGRAPHY OF 

As to his special services as a member of the Legislature we 
have but little data, except what the records at the State House 
show of his committee service. During his first year in the 
House he was not on any committee. In 1834 on Education ; 
l'S38 on Roads and Bridges ; in 1858 on Agriculture (House 
Chairman) ; in the Senate in 1839 on Mercantile Affairs and 
Insurance ; in 1841 on Parishes and Religious Societies ; in 1842 
on Parishes and Religious Societies (Chairman). In tliose years 
under to^vn representation there was a much larger number of 
members tlian now, while the number of committees was less, so 
that there was a large proportion of the members who did not 
have places on any committees. 

In 1841, a young man who was reared in Oakham under the 
instruction and influence of Deacon Allen called upon him in the 
Senate chamber (in recess time), and held a pleasant conversa- 
tion, during which he spoke of his agreeable experiences in that 
body. The young man under a feeling of discouragement in 
relation to himself said, " I am glad of your own promotion and 
pleasant duties and associations, but one whose opportunities for 
an education were as limited as mine have been can never ex|)ect 
to be thus promoted and honored." To which he responded, 
" Don't be discouraged ; a man's chances for promotion to public 
service or honor depend far less upon his school education, over 
which he had no control, than they do upon a good character, 
the formation of which is entirely in his own hands." According 
to his custom, some illustrative story must be told, and he pro- 
ceeded to say that a few days ago a fellow-member approached 
him in a cautious and confidential manner and said, "Deacon 
Allen, will you please tell me the meaning of the Latin Mr. 

made use of in his speech?" I replied that "It would 

give me pleasure to be able do so, but, my dear sir, I don't know 
a word of Latin myself." So the gentleman found he was not 
alone in not having been favored with a collegiate education. 

It is not presumed that he gained his good standing in the 
legislature by long, or learned, or eloquent speeches, but by 
being able as a common-sense man to express himself clearly 
and handsomely, so that he was by no means looked down upon 
as an inferior, but respected as a peer among his fellows. He 
was also, no doubt, faithful and etticieut in committee work. 



DEACON JAMES ALLEN. 31 

As he always enjoyed good society, his winters in the Senate 
were a great pleasure to him. One term his seat was next to 
that of Josiah Quiucy, to whose house he was often invited, as 
well as to the mansion of Gov. Edward Everett. He often met 
Lowell Mason and Jacob Abbott, and boarded at the same hotel 
with Samuel Williston and Henry Wilson. 

He made but few speeches in the Legislature, because of the 
diffidence he felt about speaking before the noted and scholarly 
men by whom he was surrounded ; but at home, in Oakham, 
before any audience, he spoke freely and well. 

IN THE CHURCH AND SABBATH SCHOOL. 

His Christian life began about the time of his first marriage, in 
1S17. He joined the church the same year. Within a few 
years from this time nearly one hundred and fifty persons were 
added to the church. 

Having decided to live a Christian life, he, without delay, 
called his household together (including the hired men) ; told 
them of the step he had taken, erected the ^^ family altar " and 
entered at once upon the service of his Master with unflinching 
zeal and earnestness. 

He was chosen a deacon of the church in Oakham in November, 
1817, and held that office at the time of his death, in 1870, about 
fifty-three years, and was immediately succeeded by his only 
son, Jesse Allen. He always sustained and cheerfully 
co-operated with his minister, working with him so far as he 
possibly could do, and was never identified with those who for 
any unimportant reason sought a change. He was careful and 
anxious to prevent any dissensions between the members of the 
church, or variance between himself and his brethren. 

On Thursday afternoon immediately preceding Communion 
Sabbath, it was the custom of the church to assemble and listen 
to the "Preparatory Lecture" by the pastor. While teaching 
the school, in 1834, before alluded to, one of these occasions 
occurred. As the church bell began to toll, he said to the school 
that he desired to attend, that he would appoint a certain scholar 
to take his place for the time being, and also invite any and all 
in the school who were members of the church to accompany 
him. Several accepted, and on the way he expressed his 



32 fiiOGRAPHY OF 

pleasui'e that they had done so, and advised them to make it 
their rule to attend these meetings, remarking as we walked from 
the school-house to the sanctuary, that he had come to regard the 
duty and privilege of such attendance as an obligation second 
only to the duty of attending public worship on the Sabbath. 

When he became a member of the church, the Sunday /School 
work was in its infancy. Aided by Mr. Stephen Lincoln, he visited 
the people from house to house, inviting the children to come 
together upon an appointed Sabbath, when the school was first 
organized in Oakham, in 1818, he being chosen Superintendent, 
which position he held, with one or two years exception, till 1860 
(a period of forty years), when he was succeeded by Deacon 
James Packard. Mr. Stephen Lincoln was the first Assistant 
Superintendent, and for more than half a century these two 
co-laborers were permitted to give their earnest and successful 
efforts in this department, in the service of the One they loved 
so well. The school at one time numbered more than three 
hundred members. Colonel John Robinson, Deacon Andrew 
Spoouer, Deacon William Spooner, Deacon Solomon Crocker 
and several others were very efficient aids in this work. Oakham, 
in the days of these men, as well as ever since, has borne the 
reputation of having one of the largest Sabbath schools in 
proportion to its Sabbath audiences in the vicinity. 

Deacon Allen was not a theologian in the generally accepted 
sense of the term. Brought up by pious parents, and early 
instructed in the Bible and Assembly's Catechism, which was 
held in great veneration by the Christian fathers and mothers, 
taught not only in their families, but as was required by the law 
of the State, in the public schools for many years after he 
became a school teacher. He regarded the expressions of 
divine truth therein contained as essential elements in a Christian 
education of children, and so he and his excellent wives taught 
it to their children. But in the discussions and disputations of 
these doctrines of the church, which were quite common, he was 
never known to take part. If such were thrust upon him, he 
had a ready faculty of turning the conversation upon some more 
agreeable and practical theme. Here he doubtless agreed with 
Dr. Thomas Dick, the English writer from whom we quote, who 
uses this language : — 



DEACON JAMES ALLEN. 33 

" A dispositiou to introduce quibbling .ind useless metaphysical 
distinctions has been the bane of theology^ and one of the causes 
of the divisions in the Christian church." 

He was not much given to argument upon any subject, but 
ever ready to state his own convictions or conclusions upon any 
worthy question and there leave the matter for others to think of 
or discuss after he had withdrawn. In his counsels to young 
men, as to what plans of life they should make, or what pursuits 
follow, his advice might be reduced to these two propositions : — 

First, be a Christian. 

Second, follow the leadings of Providence. 

In his view a successful and happy life does not so much 
depend upon the wisdom of a human plan of usefulness or 
greatness, as upon a conscientious discharge of each and every 
apparent duty in its time, and in the sphere in which the doer 
finds himself. 

He was deeply interested in church music ; was himself a 
correct singer, and had a tolerable use of the violoncello, which 
he used for bass in family worship, himself singing tenor, the 
other parts being well sustained by the other members of the 
family. His own voice was very light for one of his size and 
robustness. The change of voice from its normal strength came 
upon him by a severe sickness in early life, but he could discourse 
sweet and agreeable music. The instrument above-mentioned he 
used for many years to carry to the church on Sundays, playing 
and singing in the church choir. He also appointed and conducted 
singing schools for the children of the Sabbath School. 

HIS REPUTATION. 

It is obviously true that every person sJiould have accorded 
to him the reputation to which his character and conduct justly 
entitle him, but to such a rule there are many exceptions. 
Envy, jealousy or political competition or preference sometimes 
lead to the bestowal of undeserved commendation or to unjust 
censure upon public men. Party or local prejudices sometimes 
make their appearance in giving false coloring to what may be 
said for or against the candidate for office. Individual ambitions 
or aspirations have their influence in the formation of the public 
reputation of worthy citizens. To such and similar influences 



34 BIOGRAPHY OF 

he never to any great extent seemed to be subjected. No man 
who valued his own reputation seemingly dared to reproach him. 
To his own prudence and unquestioned integrity and faithful- 
ness in all the trusts imposed upon him, was in great measure no 
doubt due the fact that he as a rule escaped unjust censure 
or abuse. It seems little less than remarkable that a man who 
occupied so many positions of honor and service should have so 
little said against him by unscrupulous or irreligious men who 
were common fault-finders in regard to professed Christians in 
his day. 

A minor son was once consulting his father in relation to his 
desire to unite himself with the church. His father expressed 
his own sorrow and disappointment that his son should choose to 
identify himself with that class of people, saying that he had 
better hopes concerning his future standing in the community ; 
that if he would be in favor and honor in the town he must 
associate himself with a different class, illustrating his view of 
the matter by mentioning several honored names in the town 
who did not belong to the church. The son replied by asking 
his father "What objection have you to my being associated 
with such men as Deacon Allen ? " The father replied hastily 
and with considerable warmth, " I wasn't talking about Deacon 

Allen, I meant such men as Mr. , and Mr. , and 

others." Very few seemed to have anything to say against 
Deacon Allen concerning any of his words or actions ; and thus 
he was permitted to enjoy " A good name which is rather to be 
chosen than great riches, and loving favor rather than silver and 
gold." 

Deacon Allen's Christian life and labors occurred at a period of 
time when those who were regarded as very piotis people, or the 
best type of Christians, were as a rule very solemn and sober 
minded, so much so that a lively or even a cheerful demeanor 
was regarded as being inconsistent with a religious profession or 
a devout Christian life and character. Sober mindedness in its 
most literal sense was an evidence of piety. The most serious 
and solemn phases of religion, such as accountability to God ; the 
uncertainty of life ; the dread event of death ; the coming judg- 
ment and eternal retribution were dwelt upon in the services of 
the sanctuary and in the prayer meetings, and that Christian 



DEACON JAMES ALLEN. 35 

cheerfulness and happiness which properly belong to the child 
of redeeming grace, like that to which he was inclined, were 
kept in the background and seemed like innovation upon the 
l)revailing sentiment. He might properly be said to have lived 
and acted in a transition period of the church from the solemn 
and sad to the more cheerful view of human life and destiny. 
His character had not ouly its kindly and cheerful aspect but 
also its sterner side, without which he could not have been the 
commanding or influential personage that he was in the family, 
school, church, Sabbath school, the town meeting or elsewhere. 
Possessed of great will power, quick decision and abiding firm- 
ness, the look or facial expression which accompanied the com- 
mand where he was in authority, or the needed rebuke, could 
only be interpreted or understood as meaning prompt obedience 
or compliance. He was /eared as well as loved. To a few per- 
sons, especially to the young who were inclined to misbehave 
themselves, his austerity might have seemed to be a predominant 
trait, but to those who were his pupils, or were in condition to 
Tcnow him more fully, his kindliness was so manifest that their 
fear of him became only reverence, prompting them to a ready 
compliance with his wishes. He might be called a terror to evil 
doers, but he was emphatically a praise to those who did well. 

It is not known that he ever joined a secret society. He was 
one of the ^rs^ to become a total abstainer from all intoxicating 
beverages. In politics he was never a strong partisan. He 
acted with the Whig, and afterwards with the Republican parties. 
What Chauncey M. Depew said of George Washington, 
February 22, 1888, would as well apply to James Allen. " He 
was not so abnormally developed in any direction as to be called 
a genius, yet he was the strongest because the best balanced, 
the fullest rounded, the most even and self -masterful of men ; 
the incarnation of common sense and moral purity of action and 
repose." Another says, " The best Christian is simply the highest 
style of man." And still another, "Man's way to be great is 
by ruling others. God's way to be great is by serving others." 
Upon this latter proposition Deacon Allen seemed to have acted, 
and so when his life work was accomplished he was ready to die ; 
coming in from his labors as cheerfully as the tired servant 
obeys the call of his master to quit the field and come to the rest 
of the home at eventide. 



36 BIOGRAPHY OF 

The last time he was seen alive by the writer was about three 
weeks before his death. He was reclining upon his bed dressed 
in his usual clothing, indicating that he was still able to walk, 
and perhaps step out of the house. He seemed to be fully con- 
scious that the end was rapidly drawing near. He was as calm 
and self-composed as if in perfect health. He spoke of his past 
life and labors, dwelling especially upon the religious influence 
he had felt bound by his oflflcial position in the church to exert, 
remarking that he hoped he had in some humble measure suc- 
ceeded in fulfilling that sacred trust ; that in looking baclvward 
he found very little to regret and very much to be thankful for ; 
that his trust in God was unsJiaken, and that no fear or dread of 
bodily dissolution troubled him. Death came June 18, 1870. 

His funeral was attended in the meeting-house on Monday, P. 
M., June 20, the services being conducted by his brother-in-law, 
Rev. Leonard S. Parker. 

Joy ill heaven, songs of gladness, 
Earth's battles fought, faith's victories won; 

On eartli sorrow, tliougli not sadness, 
Tlie just, tlie good, the lov'd has gone. 



" He may be great who proudly rears 
For coming years strong pyramids ; 
But greater he who hourly builds 
A character by noble deeds. 

" He may be wise whose mind is lilled 
With all the wisdom time has given ; 
Who sees and does his duty well 
Is wiser in the sight of Heaven. 

" It may be great to deck the walls 
With pictures by rare genius wrought ; 
Greater it is to line the soul 
With tints and gems of noble thought. 

" He may be great who can indite 
Songs that shall every bosom thrill ; 
He who knows how to make his life 
A Poem grand is greater still." 



— Selected. 



DEACON JAMES ALLEN. 37 

" Were a star quenched on higli, 
For ages would its light, 
Still travelling downward frinn the sky, 
Shine on our mortal sight. 

" So when a great man dies, 
For ages beyond our ken, 
The light he leaves behind him lies 
Upon the paths of men." 
-Longfellow. 



GENEALOGICAL REGISTER. 



ALLEN, Rev. SAMUEL (i), and his wife Ann, of 
Braintree (since Dorchester), came from England in 1632. 

2. Samuel, son of Samuel i, was h. in 1632, moved to East 
Bridgewater as early as 1660 ; m. Sarah Partridge, of Duxbury. 
He was a deacon and town clerk. 

3. Nathaniel, son of Samuel 2, was h. in 1672 ; m. Bethia 
Conaut in 1696. 



4. James, sou of Nathaniel 3, was h. in 1704 ; m. Mary 
Packard in 1732. 



5. Jesse, son of James 4, h. in 1744; m. Abigail, daughter 
of Dr. Stoughton Willis in 1768, and soon thereafter came to 
Oakham; he d. April 11, 1816; she d. Sept. 20, 1829. Their 

children: Olive, h. Oct. 26, 1770; d. , unmarried. 

Parnel, 6. Dec. 25, 1772 ; m. Timothy Nye, of Oakham. 
LuciNDA, 6. Dec. 25, 1774 ; d. at the age of 18 years. Hannah, 
h. Feb. 7, 1777^ m. Capt. Little, of New Braintree. Cloe, h. 
Aug. 10, 1779 ; m. (1) Jonas Leonard, (2) Rev. Gains Conant. 
Abigail, h. July 12, 1784; m. (1) Dr. Seth Fobes, of Oakham, 
(2) Rev. Mr. Gusha. Lucy, b. Jan. 6, 1788 ; m. Col. Henry 
Penniman, of New Braintree. James, h. July 2, 1792 6. 

6. James, son of Jesse 5, m. (1) Feb. 21, 1816, Polly L., 
daughter of Nathaniel Crocker, Esq., of Paxton, she d. July 5, 
1841, aged 46; (2) Sept. 10, 1842, Hannah H. Parker, of 
Duubarton, N. H., who d. May 22, 1881, aged nearly 73. He 
d. June 18, 1870, aged 78. Children by 1st wife : Louisa, h. 
April 24, 1817; m. June 19, 1838, Hiram Knight, of North 
Brookfield (formerly of Oakham) ; and d. Nov. 11, 1839. [Her 
child, James Allen Knight, h. Sept. 8, 1839, m. Sept. 22, 1862, 
Susan M. Swift, of Southbridge, and d. Aug. 10, 1863, on 
board of steamer Granite State on Long Island Sound, on his 
way home from New Orleans, where he had served as a private 



DEACON JAMES ALLEN. 39 

in Company F, 42d Regiment, M. V. M.] Stoughton Willis, 
b. June 6, 1820; d. Marcli 17, 1831. James, b. July 4, 1822; 
d. March 22, ISSO. Abigail, h. May 30, 1825 ; m. March 26, 
1840, Samuel B. Fairbank, of Oakliam. Soon thereafter they 
were sent as missionaries by the A. B. C. F. M. to Ahuiednugger, 
India; she d. at Bombay, Aug. 21, 1852. [Their chilih'en : 
Kmily Maria Fairbank, h. Nov. 21, 1846. Mary Crocker, h. and 
d. in^Nov., 1.S49. John INIellen, h. Aug. 8, 1852 ; d. Nov., 1854. 
Their daughter Emily Maria, m. March 21, 1871, Thomas Snell 
Smith, in Concord, 111. Their chihlren : INIary Fairbank (Smith), 
h. Jan. 19, 1872. p:mily Maria, h. July 10, 1874. Tirzah 
Snell, h. March 13, 1879. Abby Allen, h. Aug. 29, 1882. 
Allen Fairbank, h. May 30, 1884. Thomas Herbert, 6. May 15, 
1.S85.] Mauy L., h. Sept. 1, 1827; m. June 17, 1849, William 
Lincoln, of Oakham; and d. there June 7, 1851. [An infant 
child was buried with its mother.] George, h. April 3, 1829 ; 
d. Sept. 24, 1829. Lucy, h. Feb. 27, 1830 ; m. (1) Rev. Joseph 
Dexter Poland, of North Brookiield, who d. Aug. 1, 1853 ; (2) 
April ], 1857, Nathaniel Spear; and f/. March" 10, 1861. He 
d. Feb. 26, 1867, aged 40. [Their children: William Dexter 
(Spear), 6. Feb. 15, 1859. Allen Crocker, 6. Feb. 21, 1861.] 
Makia, h. June 21, 1832; m. June 23, 1852, AVilliam Lincoln, 
of Oakham, and d. May 22, 1855. He d. Dec. 1, 1856. [Their 
child : Mary E. Lincoln, h. July 18, 1853 ; m. Prof. George I. 
Alden, of the AVorcester Polytechnic Listitute ; d. Nov. 12, 1876. 
Their children : Clara Louise (Alden), h. April 26, 1873. Mary 
Frances, b. May 1, 1876 ; d. Jan. 6, 1.S79.] Emily Kimball, b. 
Sept. 13, 1835 ; d. Aug. 26, 1845./ Children by 2d wife : Louisa 
Parker, b. July 12, 1843 ; m. Dec. 14, 1870, Hon. Sanford B. 
Kellogg, of St. Louis, Mo. [Their children : Alice Welch 
(Kellogg), b. Nov. 14, 1871. George Dwight, b. June 2?,, 
1873.] "Hannah Mekriam, b. May 9, 1845; d. May 16, 1863, 
aged 18. She was a young lady greatly beloved by all who 
knew her ; a very fine singer ; a teacher in the public schools, 
and had the charge of the infant department in the Sabbath 
School two or three years i)revious to her death. At her funeral 
her pastor. Rev. F. N. Peloubet, spoke of her as the sweet 
" singer of Israel." Jesse, b. May 23, 1847 ; m. Dec. 28, 1881, 
lAzzm Sumner, of Hebron, Ct [Their children : James 
(Allen), b. in Oakham, Nov. 7, 1882; Alice Buel, b. Oct. 13, 
1883. P^va Sumner, b. May 17, 1888.] Martha Bird, h. 
April 7, 1849. 

CROCKER, NATHANIEL, son of Job and Mary, b. June 
30, 1758 ; m. Mehitable Lewis, who was b. July 1, 1762, and d. 
Jan. 31, 1835, aged 73, and was buried near Ware's Corners 
(so called) in Oakham. He d. at Buffalo, N. Y., with his son 



40 BIOGRAPHY OF 

George L., in August, 1855, lacking only two years and ten 
months of being a centenarian. Their children : Job, 6. Aug. 
28, 1784; d. July 6, 1814. George, h. July 27, 1786 ; d. July 
6, 1793. Nathaniel, h. March 30, 1788; settled in Dixmont, 
Me., had a large family, and d. about 1873. Robert, h. 
July 18, 1790; d. Nov. 2, 1800. Solomok (Dea.), h. June 23, 
1792; m. Dec. 4, 1817, Abigail Warren; and d. in Oakham, 
April 13, 1835, buried at Ware's Corners. They settled in 
Royalston and lived there till failing health compelled a change 
of business, and he bought the farm in Oakham, afterwards 
owned by the late Thatcher A. Morgan, lived upon it a little 
over a year, and c?. as above, leaving five young children then 
living. The entire family were as follows : Abigail Warren, h. 
Jan. 9, 1820 ; m. Charles AY. Smith (had five children of whom 
four are now living) ; and d. March 14, 1859, aged 39. Reliance, 
h. Oct. 20, 1821 ; m. Edward Kendall. Mary Lewis, h. Aug. 
15, 1827. William Warren, 6. Nov. 7, 1823 ; d. May 17, 1830. 
Nathaniel Lewis, 6. Feb. 6, 1826 ; d. April 10, 1826. Caroline, 
h. Aug. 2, 1830. Solomon, h. March 8, 1835; d. March 1, 
1840. " The dear little son (Solomon) who was baptized at the 
bed-side of his dying father who consecrated him to God, hoping 
he might live to be a missionary, was permitted to live until he 
was nearly five years of age when it pleased our Heavenly Father 
to take him home. How hard it was to give him up, our only 
brother ; he was a beautiful child, so sweet, too good for earth." 
The wife and mother who lived with her daughter, Mrs. Kendall, 
the last twenty years of her life, died at the age of 83 years and 
11 months. Polly L., b. Nov. 18, 1794; m. Feb. 21, 1816, 
James Allen, of Oakham 6; and d. July 5, 1841. George 
Lewis, probably h. about 1797 ; had a large family ; lived in 
Albany and Buffalo, N. Y. Mehitable, h. Dec. 6, 1801 ; d. un- 
married. Abigail L., h. Oct. 17, 1804; m. (1) Mr. Bursley by 
whom she had a son Samuel ; (2) Mr. Adams of Northbridge. 
Reliance, h. April 30, 1807 ; m. John S. Mellen ; and d. in 
Albany, N. Y. 



PARKER, WILLIAM (Capt.), the eldest son of William 
and Hannah (Hardy), came from puritan ancestry, residing for 
several generations in Essex Co., Mass. He was a native of 
Weuham in said county, h. Jan. 9, 1773 ; m. (1) April 7, 1796, 
Anna Stickney, of Bradford ; (2) April 4, 1798, Martha Tenney, 
who was h. in Bradford, June 11, 1771 ; and d. Dec. 29, 1842. 
He d. Aug. 29, 1815. They removed to Dunbarton, N. H. 
Children : Ann, h. in Bradford, Jan. 18, 1799 ; m. Nov. 19, 
1823, Rev. Isaac Bird, and they went out as missionaries. 
Emily, h. in Bradford, Sept. 5, 1800 ; m. Jan. 19, 1825, Rev. 



DEACON JAMES ALLEN. 41 

James Kimball, who was for many years the minister in Oakham. 
He d. March IG, 1861 ; she d. Oct. 18, 1874. [Their children : 
Martha Ann, b. Nov. 10, 1825; d. Nov. 25, 1827. James 
Parker (Rev.), b. Dec. 29, 1828; m. (1) July 29, 1858, Mary 
B. Dickinson, of Rowley, who d. Jan. 10, 1873 ; (2) April 15. 
1874, Jeannie King, of Suffleld, Ct. He d. May 2, 1882, 
[Children of Rev. James P. and Mary B. Kimball : Mary Emily, 
b. in Granby, March 18, 1860; m. Sept., 1886, Rev. Geo. H. 
Cummiugs, once a teacher of North Brookfield High School ; 
settled in Thompson, Ct. James Dickinson, b. in Falmouth, 
Dec. 27, 1861. William Sanford, b. Sept. 30, 1863; m. Aug., 
1887, Abigail, dau. of President Stockbridge of Amherst ; they 
reside in Foxboro, Mass. Julia Frances, b. in Foxboro, Nov. 
19, 1866. Daniel Parker, b. in Foxboro, Dec. 3, 1867. Richard 
Lincoln, b. in Haydenville, Nov. 10, 1870; (7. April 10, 1871. 
Caroline Louise, b. in Haydenville, Nov. 28, 1872.] Maria 
Louise, dau. of Rev. James and Emily Kimball, b. in Duubarton, 
N. H., Aug. 2, 1830; m. Aug. 2, 1855, Sanford B. Kellogg, of 
St. Louis, Mo. ; and rL Nov. 11, 1869. Their only child, Clara 
Louise Kellogg, was b. in Oakham, June 22, 1856 ; and m. in 
1885, Rev. Marcus Taft, a missionary in China. They have a dau. 
Emily Louise, b. in 1887. William Bird, 2d son of Rev. James 
and Emily Kimball, b. in Oakham, Juue 2, 1833 ; m. Feb. 17, 1858, 
Fanny C, Woods, of Enfield, where they reside (no children). 
Daniel Tenney, their 3d son, b. in Oakham, July 24, 1835 ; d. 
April 16, 1864. Leonard Dascomb, their 4th son, b. in Oakham, 
Aug. 5, 1837 ; d. Aug. 26, 1837. William, b. in Bradford, 
Sept. 8, 1802 ; m. April 14, 1834, Dolly Blake, of Exeter, N. 
H. ; and d. April 23, 1865, in Winchester, 111. Martha, b. 
Jan. 23, 1804 ; m. April 23, 1827, Rev. Thomas Tenney, of 
Chester, N. H. David H. (Dea.), b. in Dunbarton, N. H., 
Jan. 9, 1807 ; m. (1) Nov. 7, 1833, Louisa Mills, of Duubarton, 
who d. Nov. 27, 1841 ; (2) Dec. 8, 1842, Nancy Bassett, of 
Lee, Mass. [His childi-en by 1st wife : Sarah M., b. Sept. 29, 
1834. Mary Ann, b. Aug. 25, 1836 ; d. Dec. 10, 1872. Louisa, 
b. March 17, 1840. By 2d wife : Abby Jane, b. Sept. 21, 1846.] 
Hannah H., b. in Dunbarton, N. H., Aug. 2, 1808; m. Sept. 
10, 1842, Dea. James Allen 6, of Oakham ; and d. there May 22, 
1881. Marianne, b. in Duubarton, July 1, 1810; m. April 14, 
1834, Prof. James Dascomb ; and d. Nov. 12, 1882. Lkonakd 
Sticknev, 6. Dec. 6, 1812; m. (1) Sept. 20, 1838, Caroline A. 
Goodale, of Oakliam, who d. Sept. JO, 1842 ; (2) Oct. 28, 1845, 
Mrs. Abigail Blake French. [Their children : Leonard Goodale, 
b. Aug. 2, 1839; m. May 1, 1863, Flavia Benton (they have 
nine children, and I'eside in Mason City, la. ; he is a deacon and 
a farmer). Caroline Augusta, b. Nov. 27, 1840; m. Oct. 7, 
1868, George S. Chase, and has had two children ; resides in 



42 BIOGRAPHY OF DEACON JAMES ALLEN. 

Cambridge. Mary Cornelia, h. June 30, 1842 ; after her 
mother's death she was adopted by her Aunt Daseomb, and is 
now a missionary in Brazil ; unm. Abbie Blake, h. Oct. 14, 
1846; m. Nov. 7, 1872, Francis A. Fiske, of Concord, N. H., 
and has two children. Henry French, h. July 31, 1848 ; d. 
March 5, 1850. Mary Lilian, 6. May G, 1854 ; and lives with 
her parents in Cambridge, Mass. 



DEACON ALLEN'S PICTURE. 



Of the two likenesses of Mr. Allen now to be found, one is a 
double daguerreotype (of him and his second wife), extending 
downwards only to the waist ; taken when he was about sixty- 
two years old. The likeness is a good one, showing him more as 
he used to appear when in earlier life he always had a smooth- 
shaven and plump face, his only neck-dress being a faultlessly 
white cravat or neck-cloth, without bow or knot or visible fasten- 
ing. In this picture he retains much of his original comeliness 
of face and features, looking upon which carries one who knew 
him in his earlier prime back to the personal beauty or comeliness 
with which in face and form and manly stature he was by 
nature crowned. 

The other likeness, which for reasons has been adopted, is a 
photograph taken about twelve or thirteen years later, and more 
readily recalls him as he appeared in later life. Could a likeness 
of him as he appeared in early manhood and as he is remembered 
by elderly people have been obtained, it would have been a 
valuable addition to this work. It is but just and true to say of 
him that he was not only one of the most able, active and influ- 
ential men ever born in Oakham, but in personnel one of the most 
comely of her sons. For personal beauty when a boy, his apt- 
ness and proficiency in acquiring and performing, he was not 
only greatly doted upon by his parents, hut praised by all, inso- 
much that he used to say that it was a wonder to himself that he 
had not been spoiled by excessive commendation and adulation. 



In March, 1888, a circular letter was issued expressing an 
intention of writing a Life History of Deacon James Allen, and 
asking recipients to express themselves, in writing, upon such 
phases of his life and character as especially impressed the 
writers, giving what they knew by personal contact with him, or 
any knowledge they might possess which could be interwoven 
into the narrative; — "or, better still, to arrange whatever they 
had to say, in such form that it could be inserted over their own 
names." 

From several persons replies were received expressive of their 
interest in the proposed work, and their appreciation of Deacon 
Allen's character and labors, but modestly declining to contribute 
articles to be published, lest they might fail to express themselves 
adequately. No doubt their own diffidence, rather than lack of 
ability, was the chief obstacle in their way, and must account for 
the absence of a number of able articles upon the subject. But 
thanks to the writers, the following contributions have been 
received, and are published herewith as personal tributes to the 
memory of the man from whom so much of good influence has 
been derived, by these, as well as by other sons and daughters 
of Oakham. And not a little is added to the value of these 
contributions by their being so generally corroborative of each 
other, as well as of the work of the author. 



TESTIMONIALS. 



Enfield, Mass., March 30, 1888. 

Among the earliest recollections of my boyhood days were the 
form and features of Deacon James Allen. 

Large in stature, very erect, with an independent step — I had 
almost said stride, he moved along the street or the aisle in 
church, just as though he had an ownership in the land he walked 
on, and very important business to transact in the house of 
God. He was a grave man, increasingly so, no doubt, as the 
added years and trials weighed upon him. He was not given to 
much notice of children, as I remember, but I have not forgotten 
that he oyice commended me for industry, and the determination 
which I seemed to exhibit in overcoming one of the immense 
wood-piles of those early days. Very early I learned that he had 
a way of brightening up when a good story was told, and he was 
not far behind in the telling. 

The misfortunes which overtook him were spoken of in the 
parsonage, and whenever an example of courage and fortitude 
under trial was needed, Deacon Allen was often referred to. 

It has occurred to me in years past, and I desire to put it upon 
record, that the example which he set, the life which he lived, 
the teachings which he gave, in short, the character which he 
was, led many a young man to shoulder a musket, and to do 
what he could for the country which needed his assistance. 
Deacon Allen was brave and true, he was faithful as a friend ; 
and here, as the only living representative of the family which 
for so many years occupied the parsonage, while he was in his 
prime, let me say that no pastor ever had a friend more firm 
and consistent, more helpful in time of trial, more bold to face 
opposition. He was the pastor's friend in very truth. Some- 
times there was a lack of patience, occasionally a hasty word. 
He was stern and unyielding when occasion demanded, — not 



46 BIOGRAPHY OF 

exactly sympathetic iu his nature. He occupied many positions 
of trust and honor, and had several titles ; more than once 
have I heard him say that he regarded the title of Deacon as 
most honorable of all, and this is the key to the intimacy with 
his pastor, and to the service which he gladly rendered to the 
church which honored him. This I regard as his leading trait — 
his interest in, and devotion to the church in Oakham. 

He was very successful as a teacher. I was one of his pupils for 
several terms. He understood how to teach — to educate, and 
this he did many a time without regard to text-books. His expe- 
rience helped. He had been, and was always a surveyor of 
land, and he was a careful observer, a surveyor of nature, crit- 
ical, exact. He did not like lazy boys, and he was not always 
careful when laying his hands upon them. I am not sure that a 
teacher would be justified in these later times in pulling hair and 
pinching ears, as he sometimes did — I did not always escape, 
— but in looking back to the "East Centre School-house," and 
the days of long ago, I feel strongly drawn towards the teacher 
who did so much for me. His stories, told over and over, always 
had a point — any one of his scholars will remember about his 
losing his pencil-case from his right hand vest-pocket. How he 
recalled all the circumstances of an accident, how he remembered 
the exact position he took, and how he went and found the case 
just where he knew he lost it. He taught his pupils thus to be 
" particular to have a care for all their acts," and it would be of 
great value in the coming years. Another story must be recalled, 
and this illustrated the peculiar traits of the Chinese. 

An American sea-captain was in one of the Chinese ports, and 
found that he needed some clothes (especially pantaloons, as our 
teacher stated). He took an old pair to the Chinese tailor, and 
told him to make the new garments exactly like the old. When 
he received them he found the tailor had done exactly as he told 
him, and had put in a neat little patch in the new goods, just 
where it was in the old. (" Our teacher " always smiled when 
this story was told). I think he was particularly attached to 
mathematics and excelled in arithmetic and algebra, but we were 
well posted in grammar, and could pick out the complicated sen- 
tences in Young and Pope. 

I believe I am correct in saying that if there was any par- 
tiality shown when he was teacher, it was not in favor of the 



DEACON JAMES ALLEN. 47 

boys. Quite likely they needed something else more. I can see 
him now with his swinging step, coming down the long reach of 
road toward the school-house, thoughtful, grave, self-contained, 
at times seveie, but all in all a teacher who was highly prized. 

Deacon Allen was a capital moderator in town-meeting. He 
was never run over or abashed, but held the reins squarely and 
fairly. (The boys who sold molasses candy, and sometimes 
gingerbread, to the sovereigns for gain, were occasionally re- 
minded in a public manner that they must be quiet or leave.) 
It was a pleasure to hear Moderator Allen call off the list of 
voters — as was his custom, when the polls were open. I ques- 
tion whether any assembly of citizens, in any town, was ever 
managed and handled, and kept in better order than were the 
town meetings of Oakham when Deacon James Allen was mod- 
erator. He was a careful, correct Town Clerk, a safe, judicious 
adviser, an official in town and county and State, whose record 
is of the best. He had an honorable ambition which was reason- 
ably gratified. There did not seem to be any elation when he 
was promoted. His honors, so far as I can know and judge, 
came unsought and were in fact much more satisfactory and 
advantageous to the givers than to him. The people recognized 
his worth. In earlier years how much he did in a musical way ! 
The old bass-viol was vigorously used, and the choir relied 
largely upon him, and what a help he was in the training of 
others, notably his own sweet-voiced family. Much might be 
said and written concerning his great love of his garden and its 
fruits, — for the orchards which he planted and renovated, and 
the knowledge he imparted to others in these directions. 

He was authority in all these matters. But the years were 
passing, and he came to be an old man, and his varied, weari- 
some life work was done. He had seen much of trial and afflic- 
tion. The much loved wife of his youth, the sons of his young 
manhood, the daughters, mature and useful, and one, the child 
of his later years, too rare a plant for bleak New England hills, 
all these had been taken from him. There remained to him the 
wife of his later years, — faithful and devoted, and children, 
able like their mother to cheer, comfort and care for him in his 
declining days. Like one of his famous apple-trees, though the 
years had been many and the seasons severe, though there had 



48 BIOGRAPHY OF 

been drouth and loss of limb, yet carefully and tenderly nursed, 
a new growth had appeared, and precious fruit had clustered and 
ripened. His name and his fame are rich legacies to us all. 

William B. Kimball. 

In a letter from Cambridge, Feb. 23, 1888, Rev. Leonard S. 
Parker, says : 

" My acquaintance with Deacon Allen began more than 
fifty years ago. I went to Oakham to teach a select school 
of sixty pupils ; the first of the kind in the town. I well 
remember the warmth of his earliest greeting. The friendship 
then formed grew stronger with the lapse of years while his life 
lasted. His social qualities were very attractive. He was 
always self-poised and collected, ever ready to learn, and to 
impart to others what he knew. He was a great lover of the 
town in which he lived ; as a true citizen he sought to promote 
its highest prosperity, willing to perform any labor, to make any 
sacrifice for this end. He was specially interested in the subject 
of education. He had thought and read much upon the subject. 
When I first knew him he was a highly successful teacher. My 
eldest son was in his later years for a season under his instruc- 
tion. His testimony was, that he was the most thorough instruc- 
tor he ever had. Of one reason of this Deacon Allen once gave 
me an amusing account. In his school life he was accounted one 
of the most brilliant arithmeticians in town. His father, proud 
of his fame, once asked him to cast the interest on a note on 
which several payments had been made. ' I worked on it all 
day making the interest exceed the principal, and finally gave it 
up. Being deeply mortified, I went back to Simple Addition 
determined never to pass over any part of the book till I fully 
understood it.' What he had done he sought to make all his 
pupils do. As a Christian man Deacon Allen was one of the 
most consistent I ever knew. He was not carried away by any 
high excitement, but he was one you could count upon at all 
times. Not long after I entered the ministry I spent two weeks 
in Oakham, aiding the pastor in a season of special religious 
interest. Many of the young people whom he and I had taught 
were among the converts. It is pleasant to recall his looks and 
words and prayers at this time. Yet in earlier times of serious 



DEACON JAMES ALLEN. 49 

religious divisions in town and in seasons of less attention to the 
concerns of the soul, he was always serene and cheerful. He 
had a strong and abiding trust in the Living God. So under 
losses of property, and of kindred by death. He was the true 
friend and adviser of his pastor, and of all who needed counsel, 
— a model husband and father. I was with him for a time in his 
last sickness. We both knew that the end was near at hand. 
He spoke gratefully of his past, and humbly yet confidently of the 
eternal future. Thus lived and died the friend of my early and 
riper life, whom so many with me rise up and call him blessed, 
whose impress was and is for good on tlie town where he lived 
and wrought, whose memory is as ointment poured forth among 
all who have ever known him." 

Rev. S. C. Dean, of South Bend, Nebraska, says in a letter 
of March 28, 1888 :— 

My distinct recollection of Deacon James Allen, of Oakham, 
Mass., runs back for sixty years. He was superintendent of the 
Sunday School most of the time from its organization in 1818. 
For eighteen years, from 1828 to 1845, I was a constant 
attendant of the Oakham Sunday School under his superin- 
tendence. He taught day schools nearly every year from youth 
till old age. In many households parents, children and grand- 
children went to school to him. I was a member of his school 
for three months. He was usually on the school committee and 
visited each year all the schools of the town. For two or three 
years he taught singing schools for little children. 

He had been a member of the Massachusetts Legislature 
during the winters of 1831 and 1832 (?) and had become a great 
friend of Dr. Lowell Mason and others, who were the great 
Christian workers in the Boston Sunday Schools, especially in 
the musical department. When he came home in the summer of 
1832 (?) he started a singing school for the Oakham children. 
I was one of the children at that time and attended his singing 
school that year and one or two succeeding years. He gave his 
time and labors for our good and the good of the Sunday School. 
He was a farmer at that time and lived a mile from town, but 
two afternoons in the week he would leave his work, haying, 
harvesting, or whatever it might be, to give instruction in music. 



50 BIOGRAPHY or 

Sometimes he would come right from the harvest field ia his 
work clothes, covered with perspiration. However pressing his 
work might be he would not disappoint the children. He was on 
hand at the appointed time. He loved the children and all the 
children in town knew it, and they loved him. He and a few 
other Christian workers have in the past done great things for 
Oakham and not for Oakham only, for hundreds of noble 
Christian men and women have gone forth from thence and are 
now scattered all over this land and some in foreign lands, most 
of them among the foremost Christian workers in the communities 
where they dwell, many having finished their work here below 
have gone to their reward. 

It seems wonderful how one man could exert such an influence 
for good over so many young people. He always had a kind 
word to say to every one. He was always commending them for 
the progress they were making in studies or in public exercises. 
If any seemed to fail, he would encourage them by telling them 
that they had done as well or better than some distinguished per- 
sons had done in their early efforts. He was constantly inciting 
them to high and noble deeds, to high and noble lives. He 
did this in a great measure by setting before them what others 
had done, how any one could make himself or herself just about 
what he or she wished. " Where there is a will there is a way," 
was his motto. He would contrast the lives of the high and noble 
with the low and debased ; the benevolent with the selfish ; those 
who love to do good with those who injure and degrade their 
fellow-men. 

In the Sunday School, at the close of each session, he was ac- 
customed to make a few remarks, bringing out some point in the 
lesson, and making a practical application, calculated to lead the 
sinner to consecrate his life to Christ, or the Christian to give 
himself more entirely to God's service. He was constantly 
bringing out the idea that nothing, however great the poverty, or 
however unfavorable the circumstances, could prevent any one 
from becoming an eminent servant of God. To illustrate this, 
he would relate some anecdote. The following, as I remember 
it, in regard to Jonas King, is one that I have heard him tell two 
or three times. Rev. Jonas King's grandparents used to live in 
Oakham. They were so poor they were not able to build a house, 



DEACON JAMES ALLEN. 51 

but lived under some shelving rocks, and Mr. King's mother was 
born there under those rocks. They can be seen now, by going 
out into " Bro. Dean's" wood lot (" Bro. Dean" was my 
fatlier). The family moved into the west part of the State, and 
continued very poor. lu 1S07, when Jonas was fifteen years old, 
he had such a desire to obtain an education, that one December 
morning he walked seven miles, to Plainfield, where a Mr. May- 
uard was teaching. He reached the school-house before the 
school began. He had no money, nor could his pareuts help 
him, and he was a stranger there. But he had such a strong 
desire to study that Mr. Maynard found a place where he could 
work for his board, and go to school that winter. In the 
spriug he found a minister who heard him recite while he boarded 
at home. He worked his way through college, and after some 
years became a professor in Amherst college, and afterwards 
became a Foreign Missionary to Greece, and now for many 
years, has been one of the most distinguished laborers for the 
welfare of his fellow-men that has lived in our day. Perhaps no 
one has done more for the cause of education and religion than 
he. Now no one of you (Deacon Allen would say), has any 
greater obstacles in the way of obtaining an education, and pre- 
paring yourself for usefulness than he had ; what Jonas King 
has done you can do. 

Deacon Allen exerted a great influence over the young by see- 
ing that they had the right kind of books to read. He saw to 
it that the Sunday School had a good library, and was yeaily 
supplied with new books. One of the Merriams, of the Mer- 
riam Publishing House, at Springfield, was a great friend of his, 
and through him he got books at a low price, and no poor book 
was allowed to go into the library. The reading of these books 
exerted a great influence over me. In those days this library 
contained nearly all the books the young people had to read. 
He watched for souls and took much interest in the temporal 
welfare of every one, but cared much more for their salvation 
and spiritual welfare. 

His whole being was filled with joy when he saw his loved 
ones coming to Christ. I well remember his expressions of 
joy in the spring of 1842, when God so poured out his spiiit that 
a hundred or more of Oakham's young peoi)le were brought to 



52 BIOGRAPHY OF 

Christ. How he labored for souls during that revival ! No one 
present will ever forget those Sabbath School sessions. For a 
time he would invite a few to his home every evening whom he 
knew to be anxious for their soul's salvation. I overheard him 
say a few weeks after, to a person from another town, that not 
one of those thus invited left without expressing hope in Christ. 

. Hatfield, March 25, 1888. 

My earliest memories of Deacon Allen, recall him as teaching 
me in grammar and arithmetic. I did not feel afraid of him, 
although he must have been a stern and exacting teacher. He 
knew when a scholar did his best, and we knew that he delighted 
in our progress and success, and was fond of showing us off to 
visitors and in examinations. I think that we did succeed re- 
markably well, and the reasons for our success were largely 
found in his way of teaching, and his ability to incite us to eager 
study. After he ceased teaching, he enjoyed helping at exami- 
nations, and nothing pleased him better than to hear rapid and 
correct solutions of questions in vulgar fractions out of Colburn's 
Mental Arithmetic. His face would beam as he listened. 

All who saw him in the church choir, with his bass viol, knew 
that he was charmed with sacred music. And the time came 
when we found that he was best pleased with the singing of 
children. Lowell Mason began to teach children to sing, and 
there was great interest aroused on the subject in Boston, and 
then in the country at large. Deacon Allen was in Boston. 1 
think he was there as a member of the State legislature. He 
heard a thousand children singing, with Mr. Mason for their 
leader, and came back to Oakham full of enthusiasm on the sub- 
ject. He at once gathered the children and taught them to sing 
together, and not only the children, but everybody enjoyed their 
singing. Afterwards a new musical instrument was in- 
vented. It was about as large as a modern soap box. On its 
top there were keys, arranged in the order of the keys of a 
piano, but they were put close together, and were shaped like 
large pegs. Below, there was a double bellows, and the reeds 
were between the keyboard and the bellows. The performer put 
it on his knees or on a table, and made the bellows act by press- 
ing first with one wrist and then with the other, while he also 



DEACON JAMES ALLEN. 53 

fingered the keys. This was the primitive raelodeon, the ances- 
tor of the present American Organ. They were made at Worces- 
ter. Deacon Allen bonght one of the first that were made, and 
brought it home in triumph, and he soon had the pleasure of 
hearing one of his daughters play it, while he and the rest sang. 
After a while he arranged to have it blown by the foot, having 
set it in a frame and worked by a stra[) which was fastened at 
one end. The girls found it easier to blow it in this way than 
by i)ressing with their wrists. Every member of the family was a 
gooil singer, and especially Sunday evening they gathered and 
sang for an hour or two. When at Oakham in vacations, I 
joined them and sang bass while the Deacon sang tenor, and the 
rest sang soprano and contralto. It was delightful. 

He was very fond of fruit culture. Downiug's large work on 
raising fruit, with its outline figures and careful descriptions, 
was his text-book and he was ever on the watch for hints and 
ways of improving his trees and vines. I went with him to 
prune and scrape and graft an old orchard which he had bought. 
It was a mile away, so that we had time for talking while going 
and coming, as well as while at work on the trees. 1 do not 
think that any subject but fruit culture was broached. He told 
nie of nice grapevines that he had found which bore grapes of 
the Catawba shape and flavor, and which he was going to culti- 
vate in his garden, and also of bis idea that he could grow 
cranberries successfully in his garden. Afterwards he showed 
me both the grapes and the cranberries which he had transplanted, 
and of which he was enjoying the fruit. He gave what time he 
could to his garden and orchard, and wished to do more, but his 
duties as surveyor and as an official servant of the public in 
various ways, occupied the most of his time. He thought every- 
thing of his children, and was very kind to them and regardful 
of their wishes. But when he learned that Abbie wished to go 
with me to India, he would not give his consent. She was the 
oldest left at home, and he said he thought her first duty was to 
help her younger sisters who had lost their mother. His love for 
Abbie blinded him, for his second wife was a most judicious 
and kind step-mother. She sympathized with Abbie's wish to 
engage in the foreign missionary work, and did it uuderstanding- 
ly, as her older sister was Mrs. Bird of the mission to Syria. 
5 



54 BIOGRAPHY OF 

He continued to refuse his consent for nearly two years. Then 
he came round and just as decidedly approved of her going, and 
helped it on. He told me how he was led to change his mind. 
He said that Rev. Mr. Trask, of Warren, gave them a remarka- 
ble sermon on Deut. 32-11, "As an eagle stirreth up her nest," 
etc. The principal idea of the sermon was that as the eagle made 
her nest uncomfortable for her young ones when they were ready 
to fly, but would not, so God stirred up their nest for them when 
his people refused to do their duty. " And," said the deacon, 
" it came to me very plainly that my nest had been stirred up, 
and I made up my mind that I would oppose the will of God no 
longer. And now I will help Abbie to go." 

As Abbie lived only six years in India, I thought that he 
might, after all, think that her going had been a mistake. So when 
I met him again, I asked him about it. He said that he thought 
she had probably lived longer there than she would had she re- 
mained in America. But whatever might have been the result, 
he had never for a moment regretted her going. 

S. B. Fairbank. 

Daniel H. Parker, of Dunbarton, N. H., says: " I am glad 
you have undertaken the writing of a life history of Deacon Allen. 
I think of him as a model man who engaged in every good work 
and finished well whatever he undertook." 

Mr. Henry Clapp, once a boy in Oakham, now in business in 
Chicago, says: "One of my most distinct recollections of 
Deacon Allen is that he never liked to see any one standing 
around whether at school, at church, or elsewhere, and when he 
passed such persons he advised them to move on, and find some- 
thing to do, or at least make their appearance not as idlers but as 
those who at least wanted something to do. And he used to 
caution people about stopping to talk in the doorways, saying 
that doorways were made for ingress and egress and not for 
stopping places, and no well-bred person would use them as 
such." 

Mrs. Reliance Kendall, of Cambridgeport, Mass. (a daughter 
of Deacon Solomon Crocker), says, in a letter of April 27, 
1888: " A strong and intimate friendship existed between my 



DEACON JAMES ALLEN. 55 

father and his brother-iu-law Deacon James Allen. That was 
the principal reason that led him to locate in Oakham ; that he 
might be near one whose society he so much valued and who was 
more to him really than a brother. I remember him as a great 
lover of children, and they fully reciprocated his love. Nothing 
pleased us more than to see him approaching the house ; — he was 
always greeted with delight. He delighted in music and he 
devoted a great deal of his time in teaching the children to 
sing ; — he sang a great deal in his home with his children. It 
was my privilege to spend a few weeks in his family, and I shall 
remember with pleasure to my latest day the many happy sea- 
sous we had singing together, while uncle played the bass-viol. 
I saw Uncle Allen but very little after I was thirteen years of 
age, but I used to hear my mother speak of him so often, and 
with what I knew of him personally 1 knew that he was an ex- 
ceptionally good and useful man, prominent in every good work. 
I hope I shall have the privilege of owning the book when it is 
completed." 

Oakham, April 6, 1888. 

It was not my privilege to be a pupil of Deacon Allen, in the 
public school, nor to be with him much in the daily walks of life, 
but as far as I have been, he impressed me both by precept and 
example as the right type of a man, always safe to follow. 

I am aware that others can speak of his business tact and 
talent better than I can. But perhaps I may speak of him more 
in the line of Church and Sunday School work. I feel very 
grateful for the interest he took in the young people, of whom I 
was one. Well do I remember the. year 1842, when we were 
blessed with an outpouring of God's Spirit ; what kind and fath- 
erly care he exercised in gathering the converts at his house 
for a morning prayer meeting. Many a one's thoughts go back 
to Deacon Allen's morning prayer meeting and feel that there 
they got started in the right way. His Sabbath School work 
will be remembered as long as life lasts, and the yielding up of 
those positions which he held so long and faithfully, with so 
nuich grace and cheerfulness, had its impression upon those who 
followed him. The encouragement which he gave to others who 



56 BIOGRAPHY OF 

were bearing heavy burdens was characteristic of him and very 
helpful to them. 

He stood like a good soldier at his post doing what he could ; 
and when he was called to go, he expressed to his friends that it 
was not in anything he had done that he trusted, but in the mercy 
of Christ ; and we could all feel that he had gone up higher. 

James Packard. 

Boston, June 14, 1888. 
Dear Mr. Knight : 

When I received your circular, several weeks ago, asking me 
to contribute in some way to the work which you had in contem- 
plation, I did not respond for the reason that I did not feel com- 
petent to write anything which could add interest to the " Life 
History," which I was very glad to know was to be written. On 
receiving the second circular, I thought that perhaps I had not 
been true to my own convictions of duty in remaining silent. * * 

Deacon James Allen was one of " Nature's Noblemen" in the 
truest and best sense of the term, and as the years roll on, I 
think we realize the fact more and more, for how few men do we 
see who possess the rare gifts which shone in his character, or, 
possessing them, will devote them unreservedly to the work of 
benefiting others and blessing mankind. His entire character 
seems to have been made up of noble traits and qualities, either 
one of which, when studied and analyzed, seems only to give 
brighter lustre to his memory. His name seems to me to be 
associated with all that is noble and true, and the influence of his 
words and example while living will be a power in the town in 
which he lived, and in other communities for many years to 
come. My remembrance of Deacon Allen is perhaps more vivid 
and impressive while he was a teacher, and a little later a super- 
visor of the schools in Oakham. 

His manner of teaching was peculiarly his own ; — with great 
tact and keen discernment he would lead his pupils to realize the 
importance of making the most of whatever talent or ability they 
might possess, at the same time commanding their highest respect 
and esteem ; patient and faithful in illustrating and explaining 
the particular lesson under consideration, and whenever an 
opportunity occurred never failed to bring to bear on the minds 



DEACON JAMES ALLEN. 57 

of his class, some moral lesson which, whatever else they might 
forget, would cling to their memory and leave its influence in 
after life. The interest which he seemed to feel in his pupils 
was remarkable, more like that of a father for his children ; — 
nor did it cease when the school-days ended, but followed them 
as tliey left the home of their youth, to assume new cares and 
duties, with his benediction and prayers ; and if by chance they 
should after a time return to their childhood home and revisit the 
friends of earlier years, who ever gave them a heartier welcome 
to the town, or a more cordial greeting than the dear old teacher? 

I think as an instructor of the young Deacon Allen was far in 
advance of the times in which he taught, and when I think of the 
innovations, the new methods and improvements so called, in 
teaching to-day which may be more ornamental but far less 
practical and helpful to a young person who has to meet life as 
it comes to us all, my thoughts revert with great satisfaction to 
the common sense style of Deacon James Allen, the 7nodel 
teacher. 

You will please accept what I have imperfectly written, as the 
honest expression of my heart, and sincere tribute to the mem- 
ory of my beloved teacher, benefactor and friend. 
Yours very truly. 

Clarinda. R. Ellis (nee Adams). 

From Deacon Albert Spooner of North Brookfield. 

Deacon Allen was my nearest neighbor during my boyhood, 
and was ever regarded as a natural guardian of the public morals 
and a worthy example of obedience to his convictions. From 
my earliest recollections he was associated with my father as 
deacon of the church and always the leading spirit. A self- 
constituted monitor of decorum at church or other meetings ; one 
whose advice and counsel was often sought and cheerfully given 
on various subjects. 

I remember him as my teacher in the public schools and in the 
High School. One interesting recollection is that in my early 
school days he had a library of Peter Parley's and other books, 
which he loaned to the scholars ; it was regarded as quite a favor 
in those days, and cultivated a love for reading and a desire for 
knowledge. 



58 BIOGRAPHY OF 

But perhaps the most endearing memory of his life was in the 
winter and spring of 1842, in that extensive revival of religion, 
when he gathered those of us who had just been born into the 
kingdom, into his parlor and learned us the first words of prayer 
that we had ever used in the presence of others ; those sunrise 
meetings we enjoyed there for weeks ; — their memory seems like 
hallowed ground, and his patriarchal share in them may well in- 
cite us to say blessed he his memory. And when we shall greet 
him in heavenly mansions and review these rich experiences we'll 
strike our harps anew in praise of Him who bought us with His 
blood and led us in these heavenly ways. 



Minneapolis, Minn., June 6, 1888. 
Mr. Hiram Knight, Dear Sir : 

I received your "Friendly Greeting" in due time. Please 
excuse my long delay in answering. You ask me to give you 
some of my recollections of Deacon James Allen. Memory 
carries me back more than fifty years to the time when I first 
knew him. I was a mere boy, not more than twelve years old. 
He was then deacon of the church in Oakham, and one of its 
most earnest and efficient members, also superintendent of the 
Sunday School. I well remember him as teacher in the public 
schools. He was town clerk for many years, and served the 
town from time to time as selectman and assessor. He also 
represented the town in the legislature, and held the office of 
County Commissioner for several years. He was always inter- 
ested in the welfare of the young, and in everything pertaining 
to the best interests of the town he always manifested a lively 
interest and took an active part. 

I can truly say that in all the relations of life, as husband, 
father, teacher, or public officer he was a model Christian man. 
And when his life work was done (like a shock of corn fully 
ripe and ready for the harvest) he passed on to the higher life, 
to his reward in heaven. 

Yours Truly, 

J. W. Brigham. 



DEACON JAMES ALLEN. 59 

Oberlin, O., Juue 12, 1888. 
H. Knight, Esq., Dear Sir : 

I fully intended on receiving your circular to write and say 
tliat I should be glad to receive the book and to add some of my 
personal reminiscences of one whom we all delight to honor. 
My first remembrance of Deacon Allen was of his teaching a 
singing school for little children. Some one sang out of time 
and tune, which caused a laugh among the others, and bi'ought 
tears to the eyes of the child. The mild reproof administered to 
those who laughed did not affect me so much as the ready 
sympathy shown to the timid, sensitive girl, who but for the 
kind encouraging word and look would probably never have 
ventured to sing again. Deacon Allen was fond of music, and 
for many years led the choir in the old church accompanied by 
his bass viol. 

I recall many a Sabbath afternoon when he gathered his 
family around him and sang the tunes he loved so well : — 
"Gently Lord, O gently lead us," "There is a fountain filled 
with blood." "False are the men of high degree." "There is 
a stream whose gentle flow." These hymns always bring Deacon 
Allen and his bass viol and those quiet Sunday evening hours 
fresh to my mind. In the Sunday School, in the day school, in 
the garden, or on the street he commanded the love and respect 
of all who knew him. He rejoiced in the successes of others and 
sympathized with the unfortunate. He would not tolerate sin 
or wrong in any one, but was kind and gentle towards the 
repentant and ever ready by word and deed to restore such to 
favor. His regard for woman was great, — many a young man 
has occasion to thank Deacon Allen for reproof or advice in 
regard to his treatment of mother, sister or schoolmate. Equally 
fortunate were the girls who were members of his school for the 
fatherly counsels and warnings given. One remark of his 
which has always been fresh in my memory, "A lady may 
always know in what estimation she is held by the other sex by 
the language he addresses to her." 

Deacon Allen was dignified but always courteous, even to the 
poor and humble. He commanded respect because he was 
worthy of it. Time would fail me to record all the pleasant 
memories of the grand, good man. In June, 1851, I bade him 



60 BIOGRAPHY OF 

good-bye for the last time. He did not then seem to me like an 
old man. I received several kind, affectionate letters from him ; 
from his death-bed he sent me loving messages. I shall always 
cherish next to Mr. Kimball and my own kindred the memory 
of Deacon James Allen, and never cease to thank God for the 
holy and blessed influence of his life on me and the community 
around. May his mantle fall on all who bear his name. The 
judgment alone will reveal the good he did in life. " Yea his 
works do follow him." With kind regards. 
Believe me yours truly, 

L. W. Mellen (nee Fairbank) . 

Deacon James Allen. 

Many are the pleasant memories I have of Deacon James 
Allen ; not so much of definite facts, to which I can affix an 
exact date, as of a general all pervasive influence for good, a 
delightful fragrance which penetrated my life, as it did that of 
the town and church, and whose blessed influence will never lose 
its power. The whole community in which he dwelt can say of 
him what Tennyson wrote of his friend — 

" "Whatever way my days decline 
I felt and feel tho' left alone, 
His being working in my own 
The footsteps of Ms life in mine." 

He was well on in life when I went to Oakham to be pastor of 
the Congregational Church. He had already resigned his posi- 
tion as superintendent of the Sunday School which he had held 
for over forty years, because, as he told me, he would not hold it 
till he became too old to perceive that he ought to resign ; telling 
the story of the judge who resigned his position at sixty, but 
was overpersuaded to continue in office since every one wished 
him so to do ; he was in the perfection of his powers ; and then 
when he was very old and really failing, and friends suggested 
that it would be vrell to surrender his duties to younger hands, 
he utterly refused, because "he was never better able to fulfil his 
duties than at that hour." 

But Deacon Allen never lost his influence. He loved the 
church as the apple of his eye, and his judgment was held in the 



DEACON JAMES ALLEN. 61 

highest esteem. He was a very firm mau, but it was tlie firmness 
not so much of a granite rock, as of an oak tree with elastic 
branches and touching others with flexible twigs and delicate 
leaves. So that he would give up his will rather tlian injure the 
church in any way. He was not one of those " who wish the 
Lord's will to be done, but always want to be on the committee 
of ways and means." To illustrate his own position he used to 
tell me the story of the very obstinate man who refused to yield 
to the majority because his conscience would not let him. But 
what is your conscience? Why it is something in here that 
says, " I won't, I won't." His love for the church always con- 
quered self, and this victory was very manifest in all that he did. 
It seemed almost that as Queen Mary declared that after her 
death "Calais" would be found written on her heart, so on his 
heart of hearts was written "The cause of God in Oakham, and 
the world." He was absolutely to be depended upon to stand 
up for the right. 

At one period of my ministry in Oakham a young man wished 
to join the church and it had been voted by the church to 
receive him. But he was not satisfied with his baptism in 
infancy, and wished to be baptized on admission to the church. 
I told him that I would do it, for it was clear to me that while 
re-baptism was unnecessary, and contrary to the meaning of 
baptism, yet every person ought to be satisfied in his own mind 
that he was baptized once. My duty was to satisfy his con- 
science rather than my own. But Saturday afternoon Deacon 
Allen came to the parsonage and enquired whether the report 
was true, aud objected to the re-baptism. We agreed to put the 
matter off till the next communion. In the meantime each of us 
wrote to leading influential ministers stating the case and askino- 
information. We read the letters to one another ; we had a dis- 
cussion before the whole church, and the church voted as one of 
its principles that it favored such adult baptism. Deacon Allen 
also voted for it, but added to the vote the statement that in 
such a case the candidate should give unusual proofs of his 
religious character. There was not the least friction or hard 
feeling, but we both seemed drawn nearer to each other than 
before. 

The Deacon was strongly inclined to the Old School views of 



62 BIOGRAPHY OF 

Christian doctrine. In the Pan-Presbyteria,n Assembly in Scot- 
laud some twenty years ago, two of the American delegates were 
asked to define the difference between the Old School and the 
New. One took an hour or two to define the difference, when the 
other said that he thought he could state the difference in much 
briefer form ; the Old School men believed 

"In Adam's fall 
We sinned all," 

while the New School men believed 

"In Adam's fall 
We all sinned," 

the difference being that they did not like the doctrine so well as 
to put it in rhyme and sing it. I think Deacon Allen would put 
it in rhyme and sing it. And yet he was a decidedly progressive 
man. He did not "sit on the tail of progress and halloo whoa." 

He was always looking forward, seeking better and larger 
things. His contact with the world outside of his native town, 
and with men of influence and power broadened his vision and 
enlarged his sympathies. To him the good of yesterday was 
"the standing place of to-day," but he never took his foot from 
its present position till he saw some firm ground in advance on 
which to plant it. 

Deacon Allen was one of the kindest hearted men I ever 
knew. It was to his house that I and my little family came on 
the cold December day that we entered the town to make it our 
home. The welcome was warm, the hospitality generous. 

" He kept liis climate in liis heart 
And it was Summer there." 

He always stood by his pastor. He was treasurer of the 
church, and was one of the best and most faithful treasurers. It 
is very difficult to express how much we owe of our usefulness 
and happiness while we were in Oakham to the loving kindness 
of the Deacon and his family. I kept a memoranda of all the 
little love-gifts made to us from the parish, and a great number 
of them came from him and his. And it will be one of my first 
privileges in heaven to seek him out, and express to him with an 
angel's tongue, what this mortal tongue is unable to express, our 
grateful love for his example, his manhood, his help and his 



DEACON JAMES ALLEN. 63 

kindness to the young minister who preached to him from the 
pulpit, but who all the week sat at his feet to learn from his 
noble character. 

Most truly yours, 

F. N. Peloubet. 
Natick, Mass., July 27, 1888. 

From Rev. George H. Gould, D.D., writing from Paxton, 
August 6, 1888. 

As I turn back to my boyhood days no figure stands out more 
prominently and luminously on the horizon of memory than that 
of Deacon James Allen. He was part and parcel at that time of 
the whole religious, educational and political ongoing of my 
native town. He easily distanced all competitors as our fore- 
most citizen. And yet he put on no airs. He assumed no 
superiority. In manner and speech he was simple as a child. 
He was as companionable with a boy of fifteen as with a man of 
fifty. But no one could casually meet him and not be impressed 
instantly with his native dignity and almost courtly refinement of 
manner. He was a nobleman in homespun. In Nature's her- 
aldry he was a prince of the blood. He was as instinctively a 
gentleman at the plough or trudging on foot with his surveyor's 
implements, as when acting his part as legislator in the Senate 
Chamber of the Commonwealth. 

He was a natural teacher. He loved the vocation. He left 
his personal impress as an educator on more than a whole gen- 
eration of the population of the town. Equally he loved to 
acquire and to impart knowledge. An enthusiast in whatever he 
put his hand to, his own subtle and delicate enthusiasm always 
set his pupils on fire. He was no less prominent as a religious 
teacher, — next to the minister he was the leading man in the 
church. If the minister was Moses, he was Aaron, true yoke- 
fellow. If the minister was David, he was Joab, leader of the 
royal host. And to this position, without a thought of jealousy 
on the part of others, by his real weight and worth he gravi- 
tated as naturally as a river runs to the sea. Nor did one ever 
think of grudging him any honor he wore, political or church- 
wise, so modestly and sympathetically did he wear all his honors 
in the service of others. 



64 BIOGRAPHY or 

There are two pictures I carry in my boyish mind of Deacon 
Allen, after this lapse of half a century, which perhaps stand out 
more distinctly than any others. And both are connected with 
the old meeting-house and its Sunday services. The first is as 
he sat in the high gallery fronting the pulpit, at the head 
of the choir, leading the "service of song," with his bass 
viol — the soul of that bass viol and his own soul seemed to have 
an especial affinity for each other. He fingered it as gently and 
pressed it to his side as fondly, while drawing sweet strains from 
its inner depths, as if it had been a part of himself. He was a 
true devotee of music — not of the boisterous, clashing or riotous 
kind, but of the sweet, tender and seolian type — seeking to ex- 
press all the deeper and subtler melodies of the soul, in an uplift 
of true worship before God. Indeed, I think my first conception 
of worshipful music came from Deacon Allen. His soul was 
strung to the finest spiritual harmonies. He seemed lifted up to 
new heights of religious vision the moment he began to sing. 
His exquisite song-gift thus became, whenever in exercise, a kind 
of transfiguration of the whole man. 

One of his favorite tunes was " Greenville," and in the single 
" Fall Term " I was privileged lo be his pupil, no reminiscence of 
that term, or, indeed, of the fifty years since fled, lives more sa- 
credly and imperishably in my memory to-day, than the echoes of 
that tune, sungby all the scholars at the close of each day's session, 
accompanied by the words 

"Lord dismiss us with thy blessing, 
Fill our hearts with joy and peace." 

Fortunate for Deacon Allen's Puritan conscience and peace 
of soul, that he lived before wise Civilians at this later era 
have discovered, that the Bible and the religion of Christ are too 
dangerous and sectarian matters to be allowed any place in the 
daily instruction of the young. The second picture of the good 
deacon, church-wise, to which I refer, was his position at the 
head of the Sunday School, as superintendent, covering a period 
I think from first to last of some forty years. In some impor- 
tant respects I have never yet seen Deacon Allen surpassed as a 
Sunday-school superintendent. He lived, it is true, before the 
day of trained experts in that office. He doubtless would have 
been a clumsy manipulator of all the ropes and wires by which 



DEACON JAMES ALLEN. 65 

certain modern schools are run. In fact, he was not a mechan- 
ician at all. He was a living presence, a personal power. 
Taken by himself, he was preeminently an object lesson of sweet, 
noble and self-poised Christian manliness, as he stood up each 
Sunday before the whole school. As the sap fills and vivifies 
the whole tree to its remotest twig, so his majestic personality 
filled and stimulated the farthest class in the room. He was not 
a profuse talker — he had nothing of the bustling officiousness of 
a mere drill-master. It was his custom at the close of the hour to 
throw open the school for questions and free interchange of views 
on the hard points of the lesson. In this exercise he had a rare 
gift of leadership. His own voice, as I remember it, during 
this brief composium was sweet as the notes of a flute, while his 
face was full of sunshine. His manner was gracious and patient 
with the most obtuse questioner, and while settled in his own 
convictions as the granite hills, he was ever tolerant and generous 
towards all honest doubt and difficulty. He was not especially 
a " children's man," in the modern sense of that phrase. He 
was only a moderate story-teller. He never " gushed " or senti- 
mentalized. He never talked down to his audience, but old and 
young alike were charmed and edified by the intrinsic lucidity 
and unstilted naturalness of all that he said. * * * * 

I have laid emphasis on the genial and winsome side of Dea- 
con Allen's character, but before I leave the old meeting-house 
I must refer to an incident that gave the present writer a sud- 
den and memorable flash of insight into another side of the 
man's make-up. It was the habit of a group of boys just enter- 
ing their "teens," of whom myself was one, untethered to any 
parental pew or oversight on the ground floor of the church, to 
install ourselves during preaching service in some one of the 
spacious and for the most part unoccupied square pews that ran 
around the whole outer edge of the lofty gallery above. On a 
certain Sunday a party of us roving and uncircumcised urchins 
chanced to occupy a pew at the extreme end of the gallery, and 
directly over against the pulpit. As the solemn service pro- 
gressed, some scamp of a boy in our circle, overcome with pro- 
fane and most mistimed merriment, let slip a snicker, so loud 
that it startled the whole congregation, and instantly every eye 
turned towards the offending quarter — A moment's pause — Then 



66 BIOGRAPHY OF 

uprose the tall form of Deacon Allen, seeming to our alarmed 
gaze like Mt. Sinai, as he slowly straightened himself up, his 
eyes flashing fire and his brow clothed with tempest — in sight of 
the whole transfixed audience, deliberately and majestically he 
bent his measured steps along the lengthy passage-way to our 
conspicuous and doomed pew. Swinging wide the door, without 
a word he took his seat in the midst of the trembling band of 
culprits. A silence like the grave reigned in that pew until the 
service closed, when a few words were spoken of such incisive 
reproof and righteous severity that the ears of one offender at 
least, after fifty years, still tingle at their memory. 

But only a year or two after this unseemly side-play of youth- 
ful irreverence in the house of God, comes a period covering 
several months — months now sacred and precious in retrospect 
almost beyond any bygone experiences of earth. In that ex- 
perience so hallowed and delightful to recall. Deacon Allen 
figured most prominently. 

It was the occasion of a great and notable work of grace 
stirring the whole town, largely among the young, when more 
than fifty on a single Sabbath in the old church stood up in con- 
fession of a new found Christian hope. Never shall I forget the 
"sunrise prayer meeting" inaugurated at that juncture by Dea- 
con Allen and held daily for weeks at his own house. — where 
like a tender shepherd he took the young lambs in his arms, 
strengthened their trembling faith, and gradually brought them 
out into green pastures of God, and into a wider and richer ex- 
perience of his saving love and power. * * * 

But no sketch of Deacon Allen would be complete that made 
no reference to his almost passionate love for horticulture, — like 
religion and music it stirred the profoundest sentiments of his 
nature. Every tree bearing fruit, it could almost be said, in his 
eyes, was a "tree of life" with its home on the banks of some 
river that flowed fast by the throne of God. His garden was to 
him indeed " paradise regained," where at intervals of more toil- 
some labor, he spent many of his happiest hours. Along no 
channels did the stream of his sparkling and quenchless enthu- 
siasm run higher than here. He petted and coddled his trees 
almost as if of his own flesh and blood. Their growth and 
outshoots of promise and good behavior from year to year filled 

LofC. 



DEACON JAMES ALLEN. 67 

him with exquisite delight. A dull boy was he in the whole 
ueighborhood, if straying occasionally into the deacon's garden, 
who did not learn from his clo(iuent lips the pedigree, foreign or 
otherwise, of every fruit-bearer on the premises. 

In a letter from George C. Ripley, Esq., 164 Hicks Street, 
Brooklyn, N. Y., president of the Home Life Insurance Com- 
pany of New York, dated August 22, 1888, he says : — 

It affords me great pleasure at this late day to thank you for 
the opportunity of obtaining a partial history of Oakham, "My 
own, my native land" (town). 

" Lives there a man with soul so dead 
Who never to himself hath said, 
This is," &c. 

The name of Deacon James Allen is very dear to me (possibly 
from the fact of blood relationship though remote). My grand- 
mother on my father's side was a sister of Captain Washiugton 
Allen (who was a cousin of James, I think). It was he who, 
with Stephen Lincoln, canvassed the town for children to attend 
a Sunday School in about 1819 (1818), and I was the only one 
from the little North Village (now Coldbrook), who attended the 
organization the first Sabbath in May of that year. 

Both Deacon Allen and Mr. Lincoln were my long-lived 
friends, and the latter with his family were everything to me in 
my orphanage that parents could have been. 



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